LABOR MIGRATION AND RURAL AGRICULTURE
AMONG THE GBANNAH MANO OF LIBERIA
by
JAMES COLEMAN RIDDELL
A THESIS
Presented to the Department of Anthropology and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
June 1970
APPROVED:
f V
FOREWORD
To the anthropologist who is preparing to do research among the
Mano of Liberia the descriptions by Harley of the blood-filled Poro
ceremonies and the early maps that indicate territory inhabited by
cannibals are enough to engender some second thoughts. There is,
however, no relationship whatsoever between the reputation the Mano
have in the literature and the way they treat visiting anthropologists.
Not only did Paramount Chief Dahn and Clan Chief Blah understand the
nature of anthropology, but they so enthusiastically supported the
research that the towns vied with each other to be included in the
sample.
This study owes so much to the help given by several residents
of Gbannah. My field assistant, Tom B. Sonkarley, approached the
research with such vigor that he made it a pleasure to walk five or
ten miles in the tropical heat to complete an interview or to witness
a ceremony. Also, Tom and I were advised and helped continuously by
S. Yini, N. Biin and N. Kokwei, three elders who personally checked
any data they thought had been erroniously reported, and alerted us
to all pending activities.
The citizens of the town of Gipo, who were our hosts for four
teen months, deserve a special note of appreciation. Their patience
in the face of the constant jntm•ruptions causecl IJy my int<-,rvjewin1r,
was truly remarkable. I can only hope that they enjoyed our presence
V
half as much as we enjoyed their hospitality.
In spite of the fact that much has been said to malign the
Liberian government, I can honestly say that I have never experienced
such wholehearted support and friendship from any group of government
officials as I did in Liberia. From President Tubman down to the local
officials, I received nothing other than courtesy and assistance.
While in the field I had the chance to discuss at length much of
the data with Jeanette Carter, John Atherton, Professor Vernon R.
Dorjahn, and Roger Walke. The respite from my duties as an anthro
pologist provided by Mr. and Mrs. L. DeVroom and the missionaries and
doctors at Ganta, Flumpa and Tapita is just as appreciated now as it
was then. The amount of help given by these people was great and I
shall always remain in their debt.
It is a common belief among graduate students that thesis
committees are perverse inventions designed to obstruct any forward
motion the degree candidate might make. In this regard I have been
most fortunate. Professors Vernon R. Dorjahn, Theodore Stern, Homer
G. Barnett and Daniel Goldrich have not only been friends but also real
sources of support during the research and subsequent period of writing.
A special acknowledgement should also be made to the U. S. Public
Health Service and to the Institute of International Studies and
Overseas Administration, University of Oregon, for providing the
financial support for our work.
My wife Alma, and my friunds Norman and Llc1rJJ<1rr1 Lc1I1(: l1c1v<~ IH,im
vi
my touchstones. They have discussed every phac;e of the :,tudy and they
are the agents through which many ideas have found their way into the
text. In addition, I cannot thank Professor B. Faggot and the staff
in Academic Advising enough for providing such a congenial environment
in which to write. A special debt of gratitude is owed to C. Harley,
M. Foisy, E. Coleman, B. Swift, and I. Brady for reading and discussing
various portions of the earlier drafts. Any errors that remain are
by now pet eccentricities of mine and are not to be shared with anyone.
Finally, to Alma, Walter and Theresa, to my Father and to
Victor, who first said it could be done, this Mano-graph is
affectionately dedicated.
vii
Chapter
I
II
III
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION .•••...........•••.••••••••..•...•.•.•••. 1
THE ORGANIZATION OF RESEARCH AND GENERAL METIIOT>OLOGY. 5
THE MANO OF GBANNAII
THE MANO
10
13
SIBS . • . . • . • . . • . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . • . 14
LINEAGES . • • • . . • . • . . . . . . • . . . . . • . • • • • . . . . . • . . . . . . . • . . . . 16
MODERN ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS •.•••••••••••••..••.•••••. 17
THE PHYS I CAL ENVIRONMENT • , .• , •• , • . . • • . . • . • . • • • • • • • • • . 19
FLORA AND FAUNA . • • . . . • • . • . • • • • • • • • • • . • • • . . • . • • . • • • • . • 24
GENERAL HISTORICAL SETTING
MANO AND THE COASTAL TRADE
........... ' ............... . 25
28
THE HAUT]; GUIREE STATE or SAMOURY TOURE . • . • . . • . . • • . • • 30
PACIFICATION • . • . . . . . . . • . . . • . • . • • • . • . • . • . . . • . . . • . . . . . • 32
POST PACIFICATION AND THE RISING INVOLVEMENT IN TIIE MONEY ECONOMY . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . • . . . . . 33
DEVELOPMENT OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE OF SOCIAL OVERHEAD CAPITAL IN GBANNAH • . . • • . • • . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . • • . 35
SUMMARY • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 41
IV MANO INVOLVEMENT IN WAGE LABOR •.••..••...••..•..•.••• 43
FOREIGN CAPITAL INVESTMENT , •.•.• , ••.•••..••••• , •••• , • 4 3
THE LIBERIA COMPANY ....••••••. , , , , , ..•..• , ••... , . , • , , 46
LIBERIAN AMERICAN-SWEDISH MINERALS COMPANY .•.•...•..• 47
viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued)
Chapter Paf~C
V
MIGRATION PATTCRN ..................................•• 48
MOTIVATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . • . . . . . • . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
AGE AND OCCUPATION ..•..•.•.•.•..••.....•.•....••..... 59
LIVING FACILITIES ..••....•..••..••.•..... , • , ..• , ••• , . 67
RELATIONSHIP OF MIGRANTS TO THE HOME VILLAGE .......•. 72
VILLAGE ADJUSTMENTS
SOCIAL UNITS OF THE AGRICULTURAL ROUND
LABOR UNITS AND THE CULTIVATION OF THE MAIN
74
76
FOOD CROPS ..••..........••..•........•... , • • . . . . . • . . . 80
DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS . . . • . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . 83
LABOR MIGRATION AND THE DOMl'.STIC GROUP CYCLC . . . . . . . . . RB
CHANGING AGRICULTURAL RESPONSIBILITY OF WOMEN 95
VILLAGE ADJUSTMENT TO THE ENCROACHMENT OF THE WESTERN ECONOMY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . • . . . . . . . . . • 97
CASH-CROPPING . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . • . • . . . . . . . . . • • • • . . . . . . . . 101
THE LABOR MIGRANTS AS VECTORS OF CHANGE .•........•... 111
SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
IV CONCLUSION ..••••......... , . , .....•.....•.•..•........ 115
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF REFERENCES CITED •••...•.........•.... 119
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX B
ix
128
135
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
l COUNTRY OF ORIGIN OF PRINCIPAL FOREIGN INVESTMENTS--LIBERIA, 1962 . . . . . . . . . . . . • • . . • • . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2 CENSUS OF GBANNAH TOWNS . . . . • • • • • • . • • • . . . • • • • • • • • • • • . . • • • • 12
3 TEMPERATURE VARIATIONS FOR GBANNAH BY MONTH ••••..•.••...• 22
4 RAINFALL f'OR GBANNAH .....•..•.•........••..••.•...• , , , • • • 22
NUMBLR or KNOWN MATURF. STUDENTS STUDYINC AWAY FROM CB ANN AH f'OR rouR CBANNAII TOWNS •.•.••••..• , ••.•... , . . • . • . . ,, 0
!i MAJOR FOH.J:ICN l,OAN Nl~GOT1 ATIONS 1900-1927 . . . • • . . • . • . • . . . • 44
7 PRICE OF RUBBER (NEW YORK) 1900-1925 •.•.••••••. , • • . . . • • • • 45
8 NUMBER OF TRIPS MADE TO VARIOUS LABOR SITES BY DOMESTIC GROUP HEADS IN FOUR GBANNAH TOWNS •••••....••••.. 49
9 DISTRIBUTION OF CURRENT GIPO MIGRANTS •••••..••••••.••.••• 52
10 COMPARISON OF TOWN ELDERS' FIRST CHOICE IN A LABOR SITE WITH THE ACTUAL CHOICE OF PRESENT GIPO MIGRANTS .••..•.••. 54
11 STATED MOTIVE FOR FIRST MIGRATION TO A LABOR CENTER FOR GIPO LABOR HISTORY SAMPU; • • • . • . • . • • . . . . • • • . . . . • . • . . . . . • . . 55
12 '.;TATLD MOT IVE FOR ALL LABOR MIGRANTS GI PO LABOR H I~JTORY ~.;AMPI;T:: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . • • . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ~)5
13 OCCUPATlON~; OI' MATURl: MAU: MT GRANT~; !'ROM CJ PO TO MONROVIA . . . . . . . • • . . . • . . . • . . . . . • . . • • . . . . . • • . . . • . . . . . . . . . • . bl~
H OCCUPATIONS OF MATURE MALI.: MIGRANTS FROM GIPO TO CUCOPA . . 65
15 OCCUPATIONS OF MATURE MALE MIGRANTS FROM GIPO TO LAMCO ..• 66
15 MEMBERSHIP OF DOMESTIC GROUP HEADS IN LABOR COOPERATIVES . . • • • . . . . . • . . . . • • • • . . . . • • • • . • • • • • • • • . . . • • • • . . 79
17 GIPO LABOR COOPERATIVES roR M~N AND WOM~N •••.••.••.•..•.• 79
X
LIST OF TABLES (Continued)
Table Page
18 PORO AND MARTT AL STATUS ON FIRST TRIP BY Pl:RTOD: CIPO LABOR SAMPLE ..•...•..•.......•..•...•.••. , • . . . • . . . . . 89
l<J PORO AND MARITAL STATCT:3 F'OR SECOND TRIP BY PERIOD: GIPO LABOR SAMPLE . . . . . . • . . • • . • • . . • • • . . • . . . • . • . • • . • . . . • . . • 91
20 PORO AND MARITAL STATUS FOR THIRD TRIP BY PERIOD: GIPO LABOR SAMPLE ••••.•...•.••••.•••.••.•..•.••..••••.••. 91
21 PORO AND MARITAL STATUS FOR FOURTH, FIFTH AND SIXTH TRIPS BY PERIOD: GIPO LABOR SAMPLE ••••••.•.••••..•.••••• 91
22 MEAN NUMBER OF MONTHS GONE BY TRIP NUMBER: GIPO LABOR SAMPLE • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 93
23 LABOR MIGRATION BY DOMESTIC GROUPS HAVING MATURE MALE MEMBERS OTHER THAN DOMESTIC GROUP HEAD ...•...•...••..•••• 93
24 FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION OF GIPO DOMESTIC GROUPS IN FOUR PHASES OF SPONSORSHIP ...•...•••..••..•.•..•••••••.••..•.. 94
25 INDIVIDUAL FARMS AND RESIDCNcr:s FOR WIVI~f; BY DOMESTIC GROUP: GIPO LABOR SAMPLC . . . . . . . • • . . . . . . . • • . . • . • . . . . . • . • . 97
26 PERCENTAGE OF DOMI..:STIC GROUPS CASH-CROPPING IN FOUR SAMPLE GBANNAH TOWNS • . . • . . • . . • • • . . • • . • . • • • . . • . • • . • • • • . • • • 102
27 CASH CROPS BY DOMESTIC GROUP: GIPO LABOR SAMPLE .•..••..• 104
28 SUGAR CANE PROCESSORS OF GIPO BY DOMESTIC GROUP SIZE AND MEMBERSHIP IN GEBUO ••••.•• , ••••.•.•.. , , .• , • • • . • • . • . . • 110
29 GEBUO MEMBERSHIP IN GIPO BY SOURCE OF MEMBERSHIP FEES AND ECONOMIC SECTORS EXPLOITED •••.•••.•••••••.••••..•..•. 110
30 GENERAL NUTRITION OF THE GIPO SAMPLE .••••••.••••••••..••. 129
31 INCIDENCE OF PARASITIC INFESTATION IN GIPO •..••.••.••..•. 129
32 NUMBER OF CHILDREN REACHING MATURITY FOR TWENTY GIPO WOMEN PAST MENOPAUSE ...• , .. , .•.••.•••••••.••••••••..••. , . 131
33 PHYSICAL FITNESS AS DETCRMINED BY PULSE INDf.X .••..••.•..• 132
xt
LIST OF TABLES (Continued)
Table Page
34 PULSE FREQUENCIES AND ENERGY METABOLISMS OF TRADITIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL TASKS ••••••••..•.•....•••••••• 134
xii
LIST OF FIGURES
1 ADMINISTRATIVE HIERARCHY .•••..•••.•.••.••••••.••.••.•.• 19
2 BAR GRAPH OF EMPLOYMENT EXPERIENCE BY LABOR SITE. SAMPLE OF 160 GBANNAH MALES FROM FOUR TOWNS ...••..•.••. 50
3 BAR GRAPH: PRESENT GIPO MALE MIGRANTS ..••.•..••••••..• 52
4 POPULATION PYRAMID FOR 51 GIPO MIGRANTS IN MONROVIA BY SEX AND AGE ....•. , ... , ..•.••• , . • . • • • . • • • . . . 61
5 POPULATION PYRAMID FOR 31 GIPO MIGRANTS AT COCOPA BY SEX AND AGC .••.•..••.•••.•. , . . • • . . . . . . . • . • . . • 62
ti POPULAT fON PYRAMID FOR 39 CIPO MIGRANTS AT LAM CO BY SEX AND AGE • • . . . • • • . . . . • • . • . • . . • • • • • • . . . . • . • • • 6 3
7 POPULATION PYRAMID FOR 133 GBANNAH MIGRANTS TO MONROVIA BY SEX AND AGE .••..••• , • . • . • • • • • • • • . • • • • . • • • • • 70
8
9
POPULATION PYRAMID FOR GIPO BY SEX AND AGE
POPULATION PYRAMID FOR GBEIBINI BY SEX AND AGE .••••••••
84-
85
10 POPULATION PYRAMID FOR SEHWI BY SEX AND AGE •..••••••.•• 86
11
12
POPULATION PYRAMID FOR DEA BY SEX AND AGE
BAR GRAPH OF DOMESTIC GROUPS GROWING EACH CASH CROP
13 NUMBER OF LABORERS EMPLOYED FROM THE 13 VILLAGES IN THE SAME ADMINISTRATIVE DISTRICT AS PLANTATION
87
103
BY MONTH • • . • • • • • • • • • . • • • • • . • • • • • • • • • • • . • . . • • . • • • • • • . • • • 106
14 NUMBER OF LABORERS EMPLOYED BY PLANTATION FROM RELATIVELY ISOLATED ADMINISTRATIVE DISTRICT OF 15 VILLAGES BY MONTH •...• , .• , . , • , . . . • • • . • • • • • • . . • • • . • • . 107
xiii
Map
1 MANO AREA TODAY
LIST OF MAPS
.......................................... g
2 TOPOGRAPHIC AND DRAINAGE FEATURES OF GBANNAH .•.••••.••••. 11
3 AREA OF MANO PORO .•.•..•.•••.•• , ••.••••..• , . • • • • . • • • • • . • • 15
4 MANO AND GIO CLANS AND CHIEFDOMS 20
5 DISPERSION OF MIGRANTS FROM GIPO BY LABOR CENTER ..•••.••• 51
6 RCSIDENTIAL UNITS OF GBANNAH MIGRANTS IN MONROVIA .•.. , . . . (/J
xiv
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This is a study of labor migration and the changing village agri
cultural production of the Mano society of West Africa brought about by
the participation in the developing western economy of the Republic of
Liberia. These forces have been accelerating since 1926 due to the
coming of the American owned Firestone rubber plantation, the largest
such development in the world.
Students of African society have long been impressed with the
degree to which African labor seems committed to labor migration and
the concomitant social and economic effects it has had on the rural
villages. The motivation for migration in West Africa involves a
flight from the land in search of money, adventure and relief from the
boredom of tribal life (Gussman 1953:137; Little 1965:9-10; Caldwell
1969). Adverse conditions in the rural area contribute to this pheno
menon. As Prothero points out for Northern Nigeria, migration
often related to harvest failure, increased taxation, and to the fact
that food and cash production in the home area is insufficient to meet
rising expectations (Prothero 1957:253; 1965).
The migPants tend to he young, mah~ ano unmarri e{l ( Jh,11ch l 'HiO:
376). They are illiterate and employed in non-skilled occupations. A
few married migrants may take their wives with them (Ardener 1961:89),
but it is more likely that women are discouraged from leaving the vil
lage (Skinner 1960; 1965).
2
The migrants retain ties to the home area and are a source of
income for their families that have remained behind (Caldwell 1969:153;
Berg 1965: 178); they often migrate with others from thejr area (Rouch
19b0) in order to stay with kinsmen who have migrated before them
(Caldwell 1%9). Frequently they form traditional social or politicdl
organizations in the industrial/urban employment center (Banton 1957).
Studies have demonstrated that labor migration can produce both
rural decline and rural development. The mechanism involved in each
case still must be determined empirically by field studies (Hellen
1968:25). The early research of Richards (1939) and Schapera (1947)
documented the drastic conditions produced in the rural areas by labor
migration. In Richards' study of the Bemba of Northern Rhodes
(Zambia) she found that so many males had left the villages to work in
the mines that the matrilineal core of females could not maintain food
production to meet minimal dietary standards. Watson ( FJ~>8) studied
the Mambwe, the patrilineal neighbors of the Bemba. It was observed
that the Mambwe were able to maintain agricultural production by
maximizing the patrilineal core of non-migrating males, thereby pre
venting dietary deficiencies.
In West Africa, Skinner has noted that, in addition to tlie
generally negative impact of labor migration on Massi agricultural
production, it has been associated with a decline in the number of
labor cooperatives and also a breakdown in the traditional authority
structure that determined the productive efforts of the younger Massi
males (1965:73). This breakdown of authority encompasses most of West
Africa. Wallerstein has pointed out that migration has made it neces
sary for traditional authorities to be more tolerant of deviates if
they are to keep young males from leaving the rural area altogether
(1965:150). This has also led to a general decrease in the size of
familial units, as males are now working toward their own goals rather
than toward those of older kinsmen (Okigbo 1956; K5bben 1963).
Migrants are indirect vectors of change in the home villages.
3
Caldwell, in his Ghana data, found little evidence that migrants
brought many skills home (1969:60). One of the reasons for this is the
inability of many migrants to speak the language of the host group
(Greenberg 1965:55; Skinner 1960). The migrants are not so much vec
tors of new skills as they are of new attitudes.
Migratory work becomes economically unattractive to the West
African laborers only when income possibilities in the village in
crease (Kuper 1965:18; Berg 196~i:177). This usually means a change to
the growing of cash crops for sale on the commodity market, which, as
Allan (1967:348, 350) has suggested, has generally been forced upon
the African farmer. Skinner noted that cash-cropping of cotton, which
the Massi were ordered to grow by the French, is not as profitable as
migration and Berg has noted the same conditions exist for West Africa
in general (Skinner 1965:70, 71; Berg 1965:168, 169). The evidence
from case studies of specific areas, however, has shown that cash
cropping is potentially a viable alternative to working for wages
(Gulliver 1955, 1957 and 1965; Hill 1961). Cash-cropping, at the same
time, creates another problem. K5bben (1963), Meillassoux (1964) and
Uchendu (Ms.) all point out that the transition to a more modern ex
ploitation of the land resources by West African agriculturalists leads
to problems of land tenure. As more men emphasize cash crops and
apply increasing amounts of technology to farminf~ " ... tenure will shift
from one of 'easy access' to a question of 'how much acce:;:, 111 (Uchendu
Ms. :10).
The investment in transportation and cormnunication facilities by
the independent African republics, has insured that the rural areas
will remain involved, willingly or unwillingly, in the modern life and
economy. It has also brought the marketing facilities of the world's
international economy to the very doorstep of the most conservative
tribesman. The greatest investment of capital has been made on the
coast while traditionally the most dense population concentrations have
been in the ~,avannah regions (rorde 1960; Berg 19fi5). The migration of
workers between the traditional ::.:ector and the employment centers ber,an
almost as soon as the job opportunities presented themselves (Plotnicov
1967) and today these movements account for most of the estimated total
of two million West African wage earners (Berg 1965:161-162).
THE ORGANIZATION OF RESEARCH AND GENERAL METHODOLOGY
In order to examine the changes that are taking place in the
rural sector, both to those involved in labor migration and to those
who remain in the village, a study was undertaken of the 13 Gbannah
villages of the Central Mano of the Republic of Liberia from November
1967 to December 1968.
5
Liberia is an export nation with its major economic facilities
controlled by outside interests. Rubber and iron ore provide the bulk
of the national revenue (McLaughlin 1966:86; Morris 1969:1). More than
two thirds of the labor force working for wages are migrants to these
foreign enterprises (Clower, et al., 1966:259), coming from rural
villages that still contain the majority of Liberia's population
(Morris 1969:l). Liberia has been undergoing a rapid reorganization of
its economy in recent years as witnessed by the scale of foreign invest-
men ts (Table l).
The first month of research in Liberia was spent in a general
survey of the Mano area with visits to towns and villages in the
northern Sanniquellie Mah, the central Saclepea Mah and the southern . Yawein-Mesono chiefdoms. The final selection of a town in which to
reside was made in the first week of December. The town selected was
Gipo, a famous center of Mano culture in the Saclepea Mah chiefdom.
It took all of the month of December and the first week of
January to get a house rented in Gipo ready for occupancy by my wife,
two children and myself. During this time the nearby Cocopa Planta
tion hosted all of us on the agreement that a study be doTH) of what lay
TABLE 1. COUNTRY OF ORIGIN OF PRINCIPAL FOREIGN INVESTMENTS--LIBERIA, 1962
(MILLIONS OF U.S. DOLLARS)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
United States
Federal Republic of Germany
Switzerland
Italy
Netherlands
Spain
England
Sweden
U.S.-Sweden-Canada
U.S.-Germany
TOTAL
$
AMOUNT
106. 7~·~
105.2
3.5
2.0
0.7
0.6
0.6
0.5
215.0
2.1
436.9
*Includes $8,500,000 of Liberian Investment in the United States controlled National Iron Ore Company
Source: Office of National Planning, Annual Report, 1960-1961, (Monrovia: 1961) and Office of National Planning, Annual Report, 1961-1962, (Monrovia: 1962). Taken from McLaughlin 1966: 66.
b
7
behind the poor relationships between the Muno people and the company.
Although the analysis below points out the harsh interface that has
developed over time, changes have been made subsequent to this research
that have removed many of the more onerous aspects of worker-management
relations.
During the latter part of December and the first half of January
a census was taken of the town of Gipo. Later, after the new farms
were planted, a census was made from July through September of three
additional Gbannah towns: Dea, Sehwi and Gbeibini1
• Along with the
census data a short questionnaire was p;iven to the head or each domes
tic group in the towns (see Appendix B) to determine what crops were
being grown, membership in village associations and a history of wage
labor.
From the residents of Gipo two sample populations were randomly
generated. One sample selected 50 domestic groups which were inten
sively interviewed on two aspects of their adjustments to the Liberian
national economy. The first aspect was the history of labor involve
ment by the domestic group-head in the wage economy. This is referred
to in the text as Gipo Labor History Sample. The second aspect that
was examined with these 50 domestic groups was village life. This set
of interviews is summarized in the text as Gipo Labor Sample. Almost
all statistical data concerning Gipo refer to these 50 social units.
The second random sample of 169 individuals was selected in order that
1Mr. Roger Walke assisted the research in Liberia by doing a
census of Gbeibini. He has kindly made his material available.
8
various features of health and physical fitness could be determined.
Three sample labor centers were selected: Cocopa Plantation,
Bong Mines and the capital city of Monrovia. The migrants from Gbannah
were visited and those from Gipo were given a standardized questionnaire
and a non-standardized interview schedule (see Appendix B).
In the villages a major research tool was participant observation
in the activities of all the towns of Gbannah. Repeated visits were
made to almost all the Central Mano communities. The conclusions
drawn from this research, however, are applicable in their specific
details only to the Mano of Gbannah and not to the Mano generally. In
more general terms the results will be related to the kinds of situa
tions faced by all rural West Africans.
Chapter II relates the ecological setting for the social units of
Gbannah. In Chapter III the position of the Mano people in the general
history of the Western Sudan will be examined. Chapter IV discusses
labor migration for males from Gbannah villages and Chapter V analyzes
the changes that have taken place in the organization of agricultural
production.
GUINEA
. .. ..-. .,.,,.. ., ""'·-"" .
' . \ SIERRA \ .
\ LEONE
LIBERIA
MAP 1. MANO AREA TODAY
e . "e .:::,'
<,
0
. • '""' ~· •
I;• .- ') . ( .
\,. KANKAN ')
( • l . .., " (
0 BEY LA '"'\ . ('"-.) • '"'"' . I •
4 ,MIMBJ\ ,If •,'MOUNTAINS
I~ .
• GBJ\~rnu
t" ·, J
. ,.-. ' .
LEGEND
0 Towns
.lr)()( Mount n 1 ns
"I Cb1mnnh
Mano Area Today
International Boundary
10
CHAPTER II
THE MANO OF GBANNAH
The Mano of Gbannah inhabit thirteen villages (see Map 2) in the
central Mano Saclepea Mah Paramount Chiefdom of Nimba County in the
north central section of the Republic of Liberia. The total number of
persons who speak Mano as a first language has been estimated at
50,000-60,000 (Riddell 1970). The 1962 Liberian census gave the village
population of Gbannah as 4,063. Population density for the area was
estimated by JUrgens at over fourteen persons per square kilometer
(37.8/square mile) and by Porter at over 100 persons per square mile
in some places (JUrgens 1965:9; Porter 1956:74).
The Gbannah Mano are principally agriculturalists. In contrast
to many other Liberian groups they intercrop their food staples of
upland rice, cassava, corn and guinea corn. Porter (1956 :108) has
estimated that the area has .82 acres in crop per person with an
appropriate fallow period of 17 years. These figures ignore the fact
that there is a two to three year exploitation of intercropped cassava
a~er an upland rice farm has returned to fallow. This increases the
acreage in effective production well over .82 acres per person (see
also Allen 1967:221).
MAP 2. TOPOGRAPHIC AND DRAINAGE FEATURES OF GBANNAH
12
TABLE 2. CENSUS OF GBANNAH TOWNS 1962
TOTAL NUMBER OF NUMBE:R OF TOWN POPULATION MALE:S FEMALES
1. Bindi 199 8l~ 115
2. Blob 142 61 81
3. Dea 167 73 94
4. Flumpa 837 381 456
5. Gban 465 191 274
6. Gbeibini 489 217 272
7. Gipo 724 323 401
8. Kpei 120 53 67
9. Kpoapa 213 86 127
10. Lampa 136 60 76
11. Sehwi 264 114 150
12. Wala 144 54 90
13. Wei Tei 163 71 92
TOTALS 4,063 1,768 2,295
Source: 1962 Census of Liberia
13
In addition to the food staples the Ghannah farmers are involved
in cash-cropping coffee, cocoa and sugar cane. The cane is processed
into rum rather than sugar. Like all Mano they maintain and harvest
kola from the traditional groves.
THE MANO
The Mano call themselves Mahmia (Mah people) by which term they
refer to those who speak Mano and who share a common historical past,
much like our use of the phrase "Anglo-American tradition."
The Mano are members of the southern branch of the Mande language
family, often referred to as Mande-Fu (Delafosse 1904; Greenberg 1963;
Welmers 1958; de Lavergne 1953). The Mano are most closely allied
linguistically with the Gio (Dan, Yacouba, Yafaoba, Yaouba) and the Wo
(Toura) and are members of the eastern branch of the Mantle-Fu group
(Prost 1953:53), Himmelheber 1958 et passim). Traditional Mano his
tories recognize this relationship and the elders agree with Fried
(1968:11) that " ••• ethnic groups are transitory phenomena with variable
membership oscillating about mythic charters," and that there has been
a long period of interpenetration and intermixture with their neigh
bors.
The elders in discussing Mah-ness refer to the segmentary nature
of the myriad of totally independent and autonomous villages that make
up the Mano. The present awareness, however, of a Mano "nationality"
is, as Edel has pointed out for the Chiga of Uganda, the result of the
national political scene in Liberia (Edel 1965; fried ]968). That is,
being a Mano takes on meaning in opposition to being Kpellt!, Loma or of
settler derivation.
The impression is given in the writings of Harley that the Mano
and their neighbors the Gio are Poro tribes (Harley 1941, 1950). All
the Mano and Gio groups have secret societies but only a small propor
tion have Poro. The area where Poro groves are found is indicated on
Map 3. Harley recognizes in his writings the distinction made here.
He uses the term "Poro" to refer generically to secret societies for
males having masked dancers. The map, on the other hand, follows in
digenous usage and refers to that secret society which is found among
the Loma, Kpelle, Gola and Mende (see d'Azevedo 1CJG2; Little 1148).
This distinction is most important to the people themselve~; and the
possession of Poro serves as one of the principal sources of division
among these groups (Himmelheber 1958). Those who do not possess Poro
are just as proud of the fact as are those who do.
On many of the older maps (see Schwab 1947: end map) the Mano are
bordered to the south by a group called the Geh. This is the result of
the Mano reference to the Gehmia--people who speak Mano but do not have
Poro and, by extension, to the Gia.
SIBS
Cross cutting the totaLi ty called the Mano or Mahmia are nibs
based upon stipulated descent. Each Mano receives patrilineally at
birth the food prohibitions he must keep for life and these taboos
establish a putative kinship bond between any two people having them.
The food taboo categories take on different characteristics when
analyzed at the minimal (local) or maximal (pan Mano) levels. Maxi-
GUINEA
MAP 3. AREA OF MANO PORO
15
IVORY
COAST
-·---- ___ ,, ___ l Ll'Gt.Nll
TRIBAL
I I L
BOU NOA RY i INTEK.'<AH<'NAL I 6(l\JN1Ji\HY
POl\O
ARf:A
_J
mally they are agamous, dispersed, unorganized and non-hierarchically
ordered.
Hi
The minimal sib (Gbein) is the localized segment of a maximal sib.
Such provide a common name and place of origin for members and are
grouped to form towns. These minimal sibs (gbein) form the segments of
a town and are called quarters by the Liberian government. They are
exogamous within towns but not between towns. That is, in Gipo, for
example, a Mon man cannot marry a Mon woman from Gipo, but he can
marry one from Gbeibini, even though she has the same food taboos as
he. In addition he can marry a Mon woman from any other town. Exogamy
is limited, then, to members of a particular gbein.
As has been suggested, these sibs are strictly patrilineal. One
takes on the food taboos of that group which has paid the bride wealth
.for his mother. If bride wealth has not been paid then the children
resulting from the unfinalized union have the prohibitions of the
mother's father. At the gbein level the sib is organized, egalitarian,
non-hierarchically ordered and today the land controlling unit among
the Mano of Gbannah.
LINEAGES
The minimal sibs (gbein) contain lineages (Bea) based upon demon
strated descent. The genealogies seldom go back more than three or
four generations beyond the present lineage elders. There will be
several lineages in each gbein but they do not trace back to a common
origin. This is due to the fact that there has been traditionally a
movement of kin groups in search of land. As each group approaches a
17
town with a request to settle they apply through their sih mates already
there. The first lineages to have founded gbeins are the owners of the
town.
Each lineage will have a spokesman who is usually the eldest male,
or the male with the most forceful personality. These elders select
one man to be the gbein representative in dealing with the Liberian
government (Gbein Domi: "Quarter Chief").
These same elders also select one man to be the "town chief" for
governmental matters. They do not necessarily select the most power
ful, nor the richest elder. The town chiefs of both Gipo and Sehwii
were chosen because "they were always in town." It is also to the
elders' advantage to have a town chief who is not powerful enough to
take town matters into his own hands without first gaining the support
of the majority.
MODERN ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS
Counties. The county system was created in 1963 as a part of Tubman's
Unification Policy to bring the interior tribal areas into the national
political system. Nimba County encompasses the entire Mano and Gio
area and is under the administrative control of the County Superinten
dent at Sanokwele. Previously the Mano area was part of the Central
Province and was administered by District Commissioners in Sanokwele
and Tapita.
CLmu ,md Cld~ddom::. The Lowll w,1:1 Lr 1ci<-liUor1,1lly U11i lar~'.o:;t 11or•mally
constituted political unit. The "clans" and "chiefdoms" of the Mano
18
are administrative units which were imposed by the national government
after pacification.
These administrative "clans" were created out of named territorial
units composed of a group of villages that historically derived from
the first town founded in the area. The thirteen towns of Gbannah
constitute such a unit and are administered as a "clan" by the govern
ment. These "clans" have regional integrity, since each sib segment of
the constituent towns jealously guards its territory. In the wars with
the Mandingoes there were instances, related by the elders, of "clans"
organizing for defense. This appears, however, to have been sporadic
and the unity dissolved as soon as the crisiB was over.
The "clans" are grouped into six paramount chiefdoms under para
mount chiefs. These paramount chiefdoms do not represent indigenous
units nor do the grouped clans have any necessary historical relation
ship with each other.
As Map 4 illustrates, the traditional ethnic regions and the
modern administrative units do not coincide. In the border areas the
towns are bilingual. Many towns historically considered Mano have been
declared Gio for administrative purposes and vice versa.
From the point of view of the Liberian government the Mano ..irea
is administered as in the following chart:
FIGURE 1. ADMINISTRATIVE HIERARCHY
Paramount Chief Sanokwele
President and Legislature
County Superintendent
I Paramount Chief Saclepea
Secretary of Interior
(Formerly the District Commissioners)
Paramount Chief Lower Nimba
19
Clan Chief Clan Chief Clan Chief Clan Chief Clan Chief Clan Chief Lao Zahn Gbannah Lissonoh Gbenyee Wei
I Town Chief Gipo
THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
Climate. The climate of the Central Mano region is governed, in
general, by the seasonal fluctuations affecting most of tropical West
Africa. From November 23 to March 21 the sun is overhead south of the
equator. A low pressure area builds up above contirnmtal South Af-rica
while at the same time a high pressure belt is forming over North
Africa. The hot~ dry and often dust-laden winds off the Sahara, called
the Harmattan, blow fr>om this high pressure area towards the area of
low pressure. This brings the dry season to West A:fr>ica.
As the sun passes above the equator fr>om March 21 to November 23
a low pressure belt forms over the Sahara and one of high pressure
forms over the South African continent. West Africa then comes under
the influence of the equatorial Maritime Air Mass, which is relatively
cool and moist, as the air mass moves from areas of high to areas of
GUINEA
/
MAP 4 •
0
IVO}{Y
COAST
Clan Houwlar\·
l.t1ml1· l\t1U1t<f,tf'\
10
MI l f S
MANO AND GIO CLANS AND CHIEFDOMS
..L----------·--------·-------------------------·----'
20
low pressure. This ushers in the wet or "rainy" season.
During the rainy season the temperature variation between night
and day is relatively small due to the constant cloud cover. This
21
cloud cover is absent, however, during the Harmattan and the temperature
variation is correspondingly greater (see Table 3). It is amazing to
find a need for wool blankets in the tropics at night in, say, Decem
ber.
The line where the warm air masses from the Sahara meet the moist
cool masses from the Atlantic is called the Inter Tropical Front. It
is along tl1 is front that the rainy season ascends or recedes in West
Africa. Therefore, for the area in question, the rainfall pattern is
variable not only for altitude but also for latitude.
The rainfall for Gbannah is given in Table 4. The annual average
for the period from January 1950 through 1967 was 83.9 inches. The
rainy season comes to Gbannah in May and usually lasts through Septem
ber.
The rainfall is highly erratic, and can vary greatly within rela
tively short distances. For instance, while a deluge may fall in Flum
pa, not a drop will be felt in Gipo a scant two miles away. The
figures given in the table, nevertheless, are reliable as a general
indicator.
Topography. The Gbannah towns are located on disect table lands (see
Map 2) undulating to gently rolling, averaging about 1,000 feet above
sea level ( Voorhoeve 196~ :9). Tlin bedrock i:; nf pre-CcJmbri dTl dpp with
igneous and metamorphic rock such as granite gnieses, sandstones and
TABLE 3. TEMPERATURE VARIATIONS FOR GBANNAH BY MONTH
MONTHS J F M A M J J A s 0 N D
MEAN DAILY MAXIMUM 98.0 98.5 98.5 99.3 96.4 93.2 88.3 90.0 92.3 96.7 98.3 96.2
(OF}
MEAN DAILY MINIMUM 60.0 57.5 63.5 63.7 64.2 65.2 61.9 61.3 61.3 60.5 59.8 58.6
(OF)
Source: Papadakis l9G6, Vol II.
TABLE 4. RAINFALL FOR GBANNAH
MONTHS J F M A M J J A s 0 N D
RAINFALL INCHES 0.50 7.27 6.73 10.13 16.50 4.28
2.27 6.27 10.80 8.14 11.20 1.20
ANNUAL AVERAGE
FOR:
1950-1962 85 inches
1963-1967 83 inches
Source: Papadakis 1966, Vol II; Cocopa Plantation records.
22
23
schists. The soils fall into Reed's 11 Ganta Association" and are"
reddish yellow in color and consist of sandy clay loams and clay loams
developed on granitic rocks" (Reed 1951:13). The major soils classifiP-d
within the Ganta Association are similar in most physical properties but
differ in color, tending towards red, brown yellow and grey brown. The
lesser associates are the lithosols, grey hydromorphic and the half-bog
soils.
These Ganta soils are, in Reed's opinion, best devoted to diver
sified agriculture. Because of the gentle topography and relatively
lesser rainfall than in other parts of Liberia, these soils " •.• can be
more successfully used for producing open-cultivating crops on an in
tensive basis" (Reed 1951: 31}.
The fertility of a soil depends on the type of parent material it
is developed from and the quality of the unweathered minerals (Voorhoeve
1964). The farmer uses only the topsoil which is o~en not more than
9 to 12 inches deep. Normally found on top of the soil is a layer of
mold or mull less than an inch thick. This uppermost layer is mixed
with the topsoil during planting and adds to the organic matter found.
The Gbannah system of intercropping is highly adaptive as it utilizes
the relatively scarce nutrients available in the topsoil at various
levels, depending on root depth (Johnston 1958:129).
There is considerable relative variation found in the topology of
Gbannah. As Map 2 indicates, there less variation in altitude,
decreasing complexity in the drainage system and fewer swamps as one
moves south. Only the land exploited by Gipo has any great proportion
24-
of its arable land distributed in swamps and disected tableland.
FLORA AND FAUNA
In the undisturbed state the combined factors of high temperature,
high rainfall and low altitude result in a high forest vegetation. In
Gbannah, however, the relatively dense farming population has brought
about a secondary forest of hard, heavy, often leguminous trees (Mayer
1951:25; Voorhoeve, 1965:23).
Although game may have abounded in the days before firearms
became plentiful (after 1948), today the largest animal seen in Gbannah
forests is the "red deer" (Tragelophus scriptus). All species of mon
keys, which are considered a delicacy, have disappeared and those that
are eaten today come from the Tapita and Tchien regions.
Since the killing off of the leopards, smaller animal pests such
as the "cutting grass" (Thryonomys swinderianus) have become numerous
enough to cause considerable damage to grain crops.
In summary, it can be said that the flora and fauna of Gbunnah
today are the result of man's actions in his environment. The result
is a forest devoid, for all practical purposes, of marketable timber,
animal protein and the balance that kept small pests under control.
25
CHAPTER III
GENERAL HISTORICAL SETTING
Rouch (1960) has suggested that the present migrations of West
African males in search of labor is not unrelated to the traditional
movements of populations in West Africa. This chapter will trace the
movements the Mano have made in response to the general evolution of
political states in the Western Sudan. Second, the chapter will analyze
the impact of the transition to political control by the Liberian and
French governments. The central thesis of this chapter is that the
impact of the outside world on the Mano did not begin with pacification
in 1912 nor after labor migration began in 1926. There has been a long
process of adaptation and accommodation of Liberian ethnic groups to
changing socio-economic conditions (d'Azevedo 1959). There are those
processes set in motion by political developments in the Sudan and
those relationships that have been conditioned by the economic and
political policies of occidental society (Hargreaves 1960:63, 67).
Hair (1967) states that the Guinea Coast has been relatively stable
for the last 500 years. This has not been true for the Mano and other
Liberian groups at the forest edge. Following Fage (1969), the spread
of population concentrations and political states towards the forest
26
region from the eighth century on was occasioned by a continued advance
ment of the Sahara into the sahel and savannah. Under these conditions,
as population grows, agriculturally based economies and the savannah
states can expand only to the south. The expanding states eventually
reached the forest approximately 200 years ago (Person 1961). This
interaction between the savannah and the forest was increased by trade
with the coast after 1500.
According to the investigations of Person (19fil) the forest :frinrJ,f!
area was relatively stable from the thirteenth to the ~;ixteenth century.
Person, in the same publication, located the Mano to the south and east
of Beyla, and north of the Nimba range and the forest (see Map 1).
During the first half of the sixteenth century the Malinke " •••
fuyent 1 1anarchi qui regne lors sur le moyen-niger ••• " occupied the
territory to the south and east of Kankan and most of the area around
Beyla (Person 1961:27; Hargreaves 1967:28). This movement caused
repercussions and displacements of the populations previously inhabiting
the area. Part of the ensuing reaction was the development of a sharp
interface between the Islamic invaders and the non-Islamic people and
between the speakers of northern and southern Mande which still exist
in the region under discussion.
The Loma and Kpelle moved at this time into their present areas,
pushing the Gola to the southwest (Hargreaves 1967:30; Person 1961:28;
d'Azevedo 1969:5). The Mano and the closely related Gio began to move
in parallel lines to the south of the Nimba range into the high forest.
The forest area was sparsely populated, most probably by Bassa
27
speakers (Fage 1969:45; Person 1961). However, the Mano say that the
area contained only "talking chimpanzees." In fact, the Gbannah town
of Lampa was named a~er one of these creatures (Pygmies?) named Lam
who, it was claimed, was inhabiting the site when the Mano first came
to the area. It is said that Lam and his family lived in a "hole in
the ground" (see Atherton, 1968, for discussion of cave dwellings among
the Limba, a West Atlantic speaking group in Sierra Leone. Also, see
Atherton, 1969, for a discussion of stone tools which have been found
to the south of Gbannah, possibly attributable to these people).
Not all the Mano and Gia have left the savannah but political
developments in Haute Guin~e generated pressure for continuing expansion
into the forest. This was the result of essentially two factors. First,
any population growth and land depletion could only be met by expansion
to the south (i.e., the forest) because the Malinke states effectively
controlled the territory to the north. Second, the trade with the
Europeans on the coast brought more slave raids; which could be best
avoided in the forest region where the cavalry of the Malinke was less
effective.
According to Mano informants, these movements into the forest
were not "national" migrations, but rather were made under the direc
tion of "big men" who would take their followers with them. The
research of the Himmelhebers indicates that this was the case among
the Gia also (1958). As these "big men" settled, they and their
followers, usually members of the leader's sib, formed towns. As
smaller groups joined the town they would form new village segments.
28
These villages were always, it appears, undergoing a process of growth
and attrition. Segments would split off and form a new town a few miles
away, but the new segment remained connected to the old village by
ritual and marriage ties, as well as those of affection. This process
is still at work today. In 1958 the town of Dea was formed from the
members of Gipo who wanted some independence from the Poro grove of Gipo.
All villages that have derived from or have been started in the
area of the town of the first "big man" in the region recognize their
common historical tie. These form the "clans" of the present adminis
trative system discussed in the last chapter. The first town in
Gbannah was Bloh, the second was Flumpa, the third was Gipo and so on
for the other ten towns, the last being Dea.
What the political situation was like before the movement into
the forest region remains unknown. Since their displacement to the
south the Mano have never developed chiefdoms or states (Arcin 1907,
1911; Suret-Canale 1966).
This initial adjustment was completed by about 1700 and the
situation stabilized (Person 196l:3lf). The Mano were not directly
involved in the political. developments of the Western Gudan until the
rise of Samory in 1850.
MANO AND THE COASTAL TRADE
During the 16th Century Sudanic trade became oriented towards the
coast (Person 1961:46). The trade between the Western Sudan and North
Africa did not stop. As the Europeans extended their power inland,
the trade routes shifted to the east, and, in fact, 1875 was the year
29
in which the greatest amount of trans-Saharan trade took place (Newbury
1966). Trade to the north was only effectively terminated at the end
of the nineteenth century with the partitioning of West Africa by the
colonial powers. Trade with the coast and coastal trade was added to
trans-Saharan and trans-Sudanic trade, not substituted for it.
Even so, the extension of Sudanic trade to the coast brought with
it the southern spread of the customs, organization and material goods
of the savannah. Traders from the Sudan were seen at the slave fac
tories on the Ghana coast in the early sixteenth century (Rodney 1967).
Sudanese political organization developed among the northern Kissi
(Person 1961:46 et passim) and the eighteenth century saw the rise of
the Mandingo dominated confederacy of Knodo at Bopulu in Liberia
(d'Azevedo 1969:5).
The Mano were only marginally affected by this new trade. There
were no major trade routes through Mano country and the Mano tradi
tionally and until 1926 traded almost exclusively with the savannah.
One of the best indications of this northward emphasis of Mano trade
was the fact that salt was obtained from the north rather than from
the coast.
Although the Mano were only marginally involved in the trade they
were affected by slave raiding. The principal raiders were the Malinke
to the north. Furthermore, a major source of slaves the Gola, Mondo
and Vai used in their agricultural systems were the Eastern Kpelle,
Lorna and Mano (d'Azevedo 1959:60). Slavery was a well entrenched in
stitution among the central Mano. Slaves were taken in battle or as
30
pawns for debt and perhaps wergild. As among the Yalunka (Donald 1968)
the slaves were used principally for agricultural labor and were housed
in slave or farm villages away from town.
THE HAUTE GUINEE STATE OF SAMORY TOURE
The development of the 19th century state of Samory Toure was a
very important event in the history of the Mano. It brought the last
great conflict between the forest Mano and the savannah Malinke before
both groups were brought under French and Liberian control.
Samoury Toure was born around 1840 (Niane and Suret-Canale 1961)
and he began to establish himself as a power in Haute Guinee from 1870
to 1875 onwards. He has been characterized as an Islamic reformer.
There is some doubt, however, as to how diligent he was in enforcing
Muslem law. Legassick (1966:97-98) has suggested that Islam was a
means to forming a new state rather than a return to the true caliphate.
In any event, the Mano that I met were strongly adverse to Islam.
I see this as a development out of the general conflict in the Western
Sudan between the Islamized and the pagan Mande speakers. This suggests
that there is some relationship between this conflict and the fact that
Poro is strongest in those areas that form an interface with the
Mandinka (Mandingo) Muslims. Poro, as Person (1961:9) suggests, is a
reinforcer of forest culture values.
The antagonism along this interface was intensified by Samory's
later incursions into the area for slaves. After the French gained
control of the Bure gold fields, Samory turned to raiding and slaving
operations among the surrounding pagan groups in order to finance his
31
resistance to French advancements.
By 1885 the French were in effective possession of the Guin~e
littoral (Mary 1937:87), and Samory was given official recognition. A
treaty was imposed in 1888 (Mary 1937:89) and Samory's state was made a
protectorate of France (Niane and Suret-Canale 1961:121). This arrange
ment broke down because of continued French pressure and intervention
in their attempts to isolate Samory as much as possible. In response
to French actions against him, Samory moved his base of operations
(capital) from Segula in present Guinee to Kong in the Ivory Coast.
Samory's position became increasingly precarious as the French
were now able to stop his arms flow from Freetown. In a last desperate
move he came south and west towards the Nimba mountains in 1898 (Fage
1969). The final campaigns were marked by great devastation and a few
of them took place in Mano territory (Arcin 1911:600). Samory was
captured in a surprise attack on his camp at Guelemou (Ivory Coast)
while he was negotiating with the French for peace (Ifemesia 1969:288)
and was deported to Gabon where he died two years later from malnutri
tion (Niane and Suret-Canale 1961:127; Arcin 1911:607, 608; Legassick
1966), thus ending one of the major epochs of this part of West Africa.
The period from the rise of Samory Toure until the pacification
by French and Liberian forces was one of continued adjustment by the
Mano people. With the removal of Samory, a power vacuum was created.
This time is referred to as the Gbulu glii (war of the giants) and was
characterized by the penetration of Mandingo influence into northern
and western Mano groups. In reference to Poro, only those Mano areas
32
affected by the Gbulu glii have the society.
PACIFICATION
The Mano are split by the French Guinee-Liberia border which was
preliminarily established on December 8, 1892 (Mary 1937:95). Attempts
were made to finalize the border arrangements in 1903 but they mis
carried. Talks between France and Liberia were started again in 1904-5
but failed as both parties were attempting to maximize their positions
(Suret-Canale 1964:140). In this period two Liberian superintendents,
Cummings and Lomax undertook the effective occupation of the Liberian
hinterland. The uncertainty of the exact boundary and the lack of
effective control facilitated the belated resistance of the Mano.
From 1905-1907 the French initiated military operations against
the Loma and Kisi with the overall plan to make the forest the effective
border with Liberia. This culminated in 1908 with the burning of the
Loma town of N'Zapa that was associated with the trade route used by
Samory before his defeat. The defeat of this town freed the French
forces for the advances on the Kpelle, Kono and Mano. The taking of
N'Zapa was considered so important an undertaking that its razing was
hailed in Monrovia (Richardson 1959:126).
In 1908 the border was finally established by a mixed mission com
posed of Dutch and French officials and Liberia was forced to sign.
From that date on, the French and Liberian governments continued to
solidify and control their respective areas with only one major attempt
by the Mano and Kpelle to assert their independence.
In 1911 the French factor Bartie provoked the resistance of the
33
two tribes. The French blamed the dissatisfaction that led to the up
rising on Bernard, the Liberian counterpart to Bartie (Suret-Canale
1964). Lelong (1946: 269) suggests that the cause might best be found
by looking into the burdens the French placed on the population.
Bartie was attempting to collect taxes that were impossible to meet and
both he and Captain Hequet of the French Army were killed in attempting
to quell the conflict.
For all practical purposes pacification was complete on the
Guinee side in 1912 (Suret-Canale 1966) and by 1914 on the Liberian
side. Resistance was sporadic and mainly passive from then on. The
Guinee Mano, however, were under military administration until the
period just before the Second World War (1939) (Suret-Canale 1966:471;
Lelong 1946:260). On the Liberian side the town of Gipo, mentioned
often in this thesis, maintained guerilla warfare for ten years.
POST PACIFICATION AND THE RISING INVOLVEMENT IN THE MONEY ECONOMY
Incorporation into the western-oriented political systems of the
conquerers brought new kinds of situations. First, there was the loss
of local autonomy, then the imposition of taxes. Perhaps the most bur
densome change was forced labor. The Liberian government has been
cited often for its labor policies, alleged or real (see League of
Nations 1931a, 1931b). Liberia was not unique, as repression in labor
policies among the Mano was equal in Guinee under the French, both in
the eyes of the Mano and those of the historians Lelong and Suret
Canale (cf. Suret-Canale 1%4; Le.Long 194fi: 25CJ et passim). Ile is con
cerned only with the Kpelle).
34
The lack of a state or chiefdom level of political organization
in indigenous times presented problems both for Liberian and French
administrators. There were no traditional leaders who could amass
labor and taxes. These positions had to be created and the "clans" and
"chiefdomsu date from this period. The task of administration was far
from easy as the following quote by a French administrative officer
indicated (in Lelong 1946:264).
Note aux chefs de canton (No. 310)
Je vous rappelle que vous devez faire le champ du Commandant, le champ de corvee et le champ individuel.
Liberez les equipes de caoutchouc afin que les hommes de ces equipes puissent cultiver.
Un canton vaut ce que vaut son chef; il y dans le Cercle de tres bans chefs done de tres bans cantons. Il ya malheureusement de mauvais cantons, done des chefs mediocres que doivent ameliorer leur maniere de servir s'ils veulent eviter les sanctions que je ne manquerai pas de prendre en cas de necessite: revocation ou suppression pure et simple du canton qui sera rattache a unban.
N'Zerekore, le 23 fervier 1944 Le commandant du Cercle
All the changes that were introduced were not as detrimental to
the psychological and sociological adjustments to modern conditions as
were the labor policies. The inter-societal and intertown conflict
ended when matters of conflict resolution above the town level passed
to the national states. This cession of hostilities stimulated trade.
Traditionally trade was under the leadership of the "big men" (Domia)
and was in the hands of the Leopard and Crocodile Societies. These
societies, informants say, required the sacrifice of a wife or child
as the criteria for membership. This effectively limited membership
to the elders of the largest lineage in a town. This afforded the
representatives of the "big man" who sponsored the trading expedition
protection as far as his reputation was known.
35
Trade was, then, a group activity sponsored by the most powerful
men of a town and carried out by ten or twenty warriors.
The trade items did not change with pacification but the organi
zation of trading did. Traditionally, and until 1926 when people began
the trip to the coast, kola and local manufactures were traded to the
north with the Mandingo for cloth, metal and salt. The end of conflict
introduced the idea of, and made possible, trade and travel for personal
gain.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE OF SOCIAL OVERHEAD CAPITAL IN GBANNAH
The development of transportation and communication systems along
with investments in health and education are necessary adjuncts to the
economic development of a region. (Higgins 1959;204, et passim). The
development of these social capital facilities for the Liberian hinter
land had long been the expressed desire of the Liberian government (see
Richardson 1959). Because of the economics of scale of a road, trans
portation and communication network, to say nothing of a working edu
cational and public health system, actual governmental involvement in
providing these services had to wait for developments in the general
Liberian economy and the initial thrust of the foreign concessions.
In one sense this was fortunate as the scale of the undertaking,
the lack of planning personnel and the unpredictability caused by
Liberia's position vis-a-vis the external economies would have meant
36
any investment errors would have long term effects (see Cootner 1963).
As it is, these services have grown in response to the location and
needs of the capitalized sector.
Before the Second World War there was no motor contact with the
Gbannah area. All transportation of goods took place on the heads of
men assembled for corvee labor and communication with the capital and
the coastal areas depended upon hand carried messages. During this
time government officials in the Mano area were aLle to rule auto
cratically with little correspondence or interference from the national
government.
During this period also the migrants from Gbannah to Firestone
would travel in groups, carrying their supplies and taking the better
part of a week for the trip. Communications about job opportunities
and labor needs at the concessions were possible only by word of mouth.
The period before the coming of the motor roads in 1948 was the
time the missions made their greatest impact on Gbannah as they were
the only agencies providing schooling or medical care. In 1926 the
Methodists initiated their work in Ganta under the direction of the
physician G. H. Harley, who was principally interested in hospital and
school development (Wold 1968; Official Gazette 1966). It was not until
1947 that the Methodists really attempted any full time evangelical work
among the Mano (Wold 1968:81).
In 1937 the World Wide Evangelism Crusade began work in the cen
tral Mano area and have since founded one of their missions stations ,
in Gbannah outside of the town of f'lumpa and other statiom; in neay,hy
Saclepea and Bahn (Wold 1968). The major emphasis of this group is on
37
evangelism, but in response to a governmental requirement that missions
could only preach if they also provide a school, they have established
a clinic and a school at each of their stations.
In 1948 Gbannah was united with Monrovia by motor road (Stanley
1966). The development of roads and the subsequent possibility of
rapid motor transport to the coast has had far reaching implications
for the whole of Mano social organization. It has made possible the
effective development of private rubber plantations, the American
financed Cocopa Plantation and the enlargement of commercial centers
like Ganta and Sanequellie. For the individual migrant it means that
he need no longer travel to Firestone in a group for security. He can
now board a "money bus'' in Flumpa at eight o'clock in the morning and by
two in the a~ernoon he will be with kinsmen or :friends at Harbel. The
trip to Monrovia takes about an hour longer. The road has had one other
major role vis-a-vis labor migration. Because it has made the sale of
cash crops practicable, it has also created an alternative to working
for wages. This point will be discussed further below.
For Gbannah the road has also meant the development of a whole new
local marketing structure. Mandingo shop keepers are found in Gban,
Flumpa, Gipo and Gbeibini, and there are two Lebanese stores in Flumpa.
In addition, both Flumpa and Gipo have Mano-owned shops. Traders and
buyers now go :from town to town purchasing cash crops and food staples
which they transport to the road. Previously, the villagers had to
head load their goods to Ganta in search of an interested party.
The new shops have meant that those items that used to be brought
38
back by returning migrants are now readily available locally. This has
led to a decline in the manufacture of some of the traditional craft
items. Pottery is still made in Kpei and occasionally someone is ob
served making cloth but in general, modern cookware, pots, pans and
cloth prints have replaced the local manufactures.
This decline not true, however, for agricultural tools. The
traditional tools are preferred to the European made variety and the
blacksmith is still an important figure in any town. The three black
smiths in Gipo were so far behind demand during the farming season that
imported machetes were bought because the traditional ones could not be
made fast enough. Furthermore, Cocopa Plantation has a Mano blacksmith
employed full time making tapping equipment which is found equal to
that imported from abroad.
Of more than passing interest in the industrial states, with
their highly developed systems of communication, the question of
what kind of information people use in making job decisions and just
where the laborer gets his information. Although the communication
network of Liberia is expanding each year, it does not in its more
advanced techniques greatly affect the Mano laborer seeking work. The
majority still depend almost wholly on verbal reports of job opportu
nities and working conditions at the various wage centers.
Another form of commtmication that is very important, however, is
the transistor radio. Even though a majority of the mature males are
illiterate and speak English poorly at best, they can keep abreast of
national and international events by listening to the broadcasts in
39
Mano given by the Liberian Broadcasting Corporation and those transmit
ted by a church sponsored station. Each of these stations has a regu
larly scheduled program of news and special events in the various in
digenous languages. In addition, the church sponsored station (ELWA)
devotes time to messages and requests. In this way a migrant at
Firestone or the capital can let those at home know how he is doing, of
the birth of a child or he can relay a request for assistance. For
this reason, at news or Mano Program time, the men of the towns are
gathered into groups around the transistor radios of returned migrants
or of the wealthy cash-croppers.
The provision of public education throughout the Mano area has
been a relatively late phenomenon. For the Central Mano, mission
schooling has been available in Ganta, Flumpa, Saclepea and Bahn for
some time. These schools are self-supporting in most cases and although
the tuition has not been placed at a prohibitive level it is higher
than most families are willing to pay. Even so, mission schools still
have more applicants than the facilities will accommodate. Public
schools have been placed at each of these towns since 1948, and are
manned in part by Peace Corps Volunteers. The quality of education
given is not high by Euro-American standards, but is to all observa
tions enthusiastically received by everyone. Since Mano parents do not
insist on children going to school, only those that really want educa
tion go. However, since school is viewed by the children as more fun
than staying home and helping on the family farms, the schools, both
public and private, are filled to overflowing.
TABLE 5. NUMBER OF KNOWN MATURE STUDENTS STUDYING AWAY FROM GBANNAH FOR FOUR GBANNAH TOWNS
Male Female Male Female Male
15 6 3 0
Total: 21 3
Number of 13-25 year olds remaining in the sample four towns: 416
4
Female Male
1 23
5
40
Female
3
26
41
Adult night school is offered sporadically in the above mentioned
schools and mature men and women vie with each other for the opportunity
to go. The enthusiasm, however, lies in going, and learning to read
and write English is secondary. Few who do go, therefore, achieve any
real proficiency in the national language.
The best vocational training is provided at Booker Washington
Institute (Clower 1966:263-265) and at the Concessions. The two con
cession schools closest to the Mano are those of LAMCO and the German
managed Bong Mining Company. As entrance into these schools is deter
mined by competitive examination, with only the very highest accepted,
the standards are high. The schools can guarantee jobs to all graduates
as they are sought by enterprises all over Liberia because the need for
skilled labor increases each year with developments in the economy
(Clower et al 1966).
SUMMARY
The Mano in general and the Central Mano of Gbannah in particular
have been adjusting over a long period of time to the political and
economic pressures of West Africa. The adjustment has not only been to
those of European derivation but also to those generated in the Western
Sudan.
Toubal has pointed out (1966:285) that African societies did not
exist in a political vacuum. Even those away from the coast and con
sidered relatively isolated had dealings with neighboring societies and
tribal authorities that were either superior or subordinate to them.
They, therefore, were aware of some of the possjble implications of thP
4?
new relationships emerging with the Liberian and French governments.
In fact, the history of Mano expansions down from the savannah and the
contacts they had with coastal slavers and their continued trade with
the Mandingo made knowledge of the outside world available. The rela
tive isolation and defense offered by the forest and the buffer given
the Mano of Gbannah by the surrounding forest groups provided some
relief from the dislocating aspect of political incorporation into the
Liberian state.
43
CHAPTER IV
MANO INVOLVEMENT IN WAGE LABOR
The involvement of the Mano of Gbannah in wage labor has been in
response to foreign capital investments. The locus of labor migration
has changed with developments in the economy.
FOREIGN CAPITAL INVESTMENT
Although the United States has always had an historical associa
tion with Liberia, direct American involvement in the internal workings
of the republic came after 1909. In that year Congress authorized a
commission to investigate Liberia's affairs. In its report {see Senate
Document 457, 61st Congress, Second Session) the corrnnission recommended
assisting Liberia in administering its foreign debts (customs receiver
ship) and military aid in training the Liberian Frontier Force {Buell
1947:24). President Taft authorized three American officers for ser
vice in the Frontier Force in 1910 and it was one of these officers who
completed the pacification of the Mano and Gio areas in 1913 (Foreign
Relations of the United States 1910:710; 1912:652; 1913:654).
Economic assistance came in 1912 with an American and European
loan of $1,700,000 at 5% which went principally to paying off Liberia's
debts. Table 6 summarizes the major foreign loan negotiations from the
44
turn of the century to the founding of Firestone's concessions.
Liberia's economic situation had become financially precarious by 1925.
France was threatening its northern borders and had already occupied
about ten Liberian villages (Buell 1928:II:793). According to Buell,
the Liberian government was prepared to meet most of the demands of the
Firestone interests believing that " .•• only by securing the investment
of American capital in Liberia ••• the government could count on the
continual support of the United States" (Buell, ibid).
YEAR
1906
1912
1918
1927
TAB.LI: 6. MAJOR FOREIGN LOAN NEGOTIATION[; 1900-1927
AMOUNT
$ 500,000
$1,700,000
$5,000,000
$5,000,000
British
U.S., British, French and German
U.S. First Liberty Loan Act of 1917
Firestone
For roads and reforms
Pay defaulted debts
Never finalized. Liberty loans terminated 1921
Refunding previous debts
Sources: Foreign Relations of the United States 1908, 1911, 1912, 1917, 1925, 1926; Buell 1928:Il:843; 1947: 24-33; Taylor 1956:48-52.
Liberia's interest in Firestone was intensified by its position
vis-a-vis the world powers; Firestone's interest in Liberia was the
result of the world rubber economy (Taylor 1956:42-47). By 1920 the
United States consumed 70% of the world's rubber pro<luct ion. Tai> le
7 shows the fluctuations and non-predictability of the world rubber
45
market price structure. The range in prices paid at New York varied
between 11.5¢ to $1.21 a pound in the five years before the Firestone
agreement. In order to stabilize the rubber market at around 30¢ a
pound the British adopted the Stevenson Plan in 1922. Although this
plan of production control on British owned plantations in Ceylon and
Malaya proved a complete failure by 1927, it caused strong reaction in
the U.S. at its inception. In 1923 Congress appropriated 0500,000 for
a survey of potential plantation sites for American capital. From the
very beginning Harvey Firestone was an active opponent of the Stevenson
Plan and considered areas of possible development: Mexico, Sarawak, the
Philippines, and Liberia. The Liberian plantation was the only one that
materialized (Taylor 1956:46).
TABLE 7. PRICE OF RUBBER (NEW YORK) 1900-1926
YEAR PRICE (PER POUND)
1900 $1.50
1905 3.00
1910 .65
1915 .66
1920 .36
1925 1.20
MAJOR EXPORT AREA
Brazil
Brazil
Asia
Asia
Asia
Range of price fluctuation 1920-1925: 11. 5C-$1. 21
Source: Taylor 1956:43,44; Buell 1928:818,819.
46
Firestone thus became the dominant economic institution in Liberia.
From the time company agents began rehabilitating the former British Mt.
Barclay plantation until 1948, Firestone was the principal ()mployer of
Mano males. In 1961 there were 1,189 Mano employed and they accounted
for 7% of the total labor force (Clower, et al, 1966:307).
THE LIBERIA COMPANY
The Liberia Company's Cocopa Plantation opened in 1948 and was the
first major economic enterprise in the Mano area. Its further impor
tance for this study is the fact that it is located in the northeast
corner of Gbannah (see Map 2).
The plantation was originally conceived as an altruistic enter
prise. While he was Secretary of State, Edward Stettinius, the American
industrialist, felt that Liberia needed to exploit its iron ore resources
and to diversify its exports. In order to provide a model of regional
development, jobs and cash income in an area as yet unreached by motor
road, he proposed to finance a non-profit cacao plantation in the
hinterland, among a tribe reconunended by Firestone for its good employ
ment record. The Liberian government presented a concession area of
25,000 acres which was initially planted in cacao. The soils proved
unproductive and coffee was tried in 1954 but by 1964 the plantation
had turned entirely to rubber production.
LIBERIAN AMERICAN-SWEDISH MINERALS COMPANY
(LAMCO JOINT VENTURE IRON MINES)
The LAMCO iron mine in the Nirnba is the most recent con-
47
cession and the only other major employer besides Cocopa Plantation in
the Mano area. The LAMCO concession agreements date from 1953 but were
rewritten in 1960 at which time Bethlehem Steel acquired a 25% interest
and LAMCO and the Liberian government formed a fifty-fifty partnership
for the remaining 75% (Clower et al 1966:211).
As was indicated in the previous chapter, the social capital
facilities of Liberia were extremely limited. In order to mine in the
Nirnba area LAMCO had to spend over $200 million in production and over
head social capital facilities at Yekepa (the main mining center at
Nirnba) and for a harbor and loading facility at Buchanan on the coast
(Clowe:r> et al 1966:215). These investments, even before full produc
tion was reached, make LAMCO the largest capital investor in Liberia
(Clower et al 1966:216; Qureshi et al 1964:295).
The Nimba ore mined in open pits where it is blasted loose and
moved to a crushing plant by heavy earth moving equipment. From the
crushe:r> it moves by a conveyor belt down the mountain to an ore train
loading complex. From here the ore is taken directly to Buchanan where
it is processed and graded and loaded on board ore ships. The whole
process, then, is highly capitalized and automated, requiring a skilled
and highly trained labor force.
LAMCO employed 735 Mano workers in 1961 during its construction
period. Since it has gone into full time production its need for un-
48
skilled labor has largely disappeared and the number of Mano presently
employed is less, although the exact number is not known because LAMCO
no longer tabulates workers by tribe.
THE MIGRATION PATTERN
In Table 8 the data on all past wage labor experience of 174 do
mestic group heads interviewed in Gbannah is given. These data are
summarized in Figure 2. The fact that Firestone has been hiring since
1924 is evinced in the figures. Most of those men now in charge of a
domestic group would have made their first trip for wage employment
before Cocopa and LAMCO were developed.
The past trips by these Gbannah males to two major rubber plan
tations account for 78% of the total migrations for wage labor. Other
occupations such as soldiering did not loom large for the Mano as they
did for the Kpelle and Loma (Carter Ms.; Liebenow 1969). The elders of
Gbannah say this was the case because when they went to join the Arrrry
there were few who could speak Mano and all the available positions
were always filled by the relatives of those who were already soldiers.
Since World War II the,job market in Liberia has been expanding.
In 1950 the wage earning labor force was estimated at 30,000; about
20,000 of this total were employed by Firestone (Clower, et al, 1966:
259). By 1960 the total number of wage earners had risen to approxi
mately 80,000. Not only has the number of available jobs in foreign
concessions increased but also there is a greater number available in
the domestic economy.
TABLE 8. NUMBER OF TRIPS MADE TO VARIOUS LABOR SITES BY DOMESTIC GROUP HEADS IN FOUR GBANNAH TOWNS
NUMBER OF TRIPS MADE LABOR SITE 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 or more TOTAL TRIPS
FIRESTONE 42 69 29 15 8 5 4 259 (1924-1968)
LAMCO 138 29 5 1 42 (1957-·1968)
COCOPA 82 76 12 1 1 114 (1948-·1968)
MONROVIA AND OTHER 115 52 6 61 (1914-1968)
Total Number of Domestic Groups: 174
Number of Domestic Group Heads Having Made no Trips: 17
49
q µ.:j
> ....:l 0 > z H
C/) E-, z ~ t9 H ;::;:; r.,... 0
p:; µ.:j rl'.l ~ :=i ~~
FIGURE 2. BAR GRAPH OF EMPLOYMENT EXPERIENCE BY LABOR SITE. SAMPLE OF 160 GBANNAH MALES
FROM FOUR TOWNS
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
FIRESTONE LAMCO COCOPA MONROVIA AND OTHER
Source: Table 8
50
MAP 5. DISPERSION OF MIGRANTS FROM GIPO BY LABOR f~ITC
Bong Mines
Zorzor
Belefanai
Kakata Firestone
LAMCO
Gbanga
51
52
TABLE 9. DISTRIBUTION OF CURRENT GIPO MIGRANTS
PLACE or EMPLOYMENT
TRAVELLING, WHEREABOUTS
FIRESTONE LAMCO COCOPA MONROVIA ARMY OTHER UNKNOWN
Number of migrants 15 14 12 11 9 27 15
Seeking 1 employment Unknown 4 None 4 None Unknown
l Number of males living with an employed migrant while looking for wage employment.
Total Population in same age category: 273
FIGURE 3. BAR GRAPH: PRESENT GIPO MALE MIGRANTS
n=l29
30
27
20 20
15 14
15
12 lO lO
9 8
5
0
":I t-< 0 3: ::i:, (/) ::;:: ":I t-< M::;:: C::;:: en C H ::i:, 0 0 ~ >-:3 0 00 t-< 0 z ::r: >-:3 z :::cl 3: 0 z C :::cl :::cl 0 (/) :::cl ;,:: M CM M 0 0 :::cl t-<: t::l;,:: ;,:: M;,:: z :::cl t::l 3: (/) 0 >"{j 0 MH ::;:: H ::;:: H OM M >u >-:3 ::i:, < zz oz ::r: z ~ g; z: t-< 0 H >-:3 G) :::cl G) M G) >-:3 0 z ::i:, (/) ;,:: :::cl 0 (/) t-<: M M C M
>-:3 t::l (/)
Source: Table 9
53
The information on the location of current migrants from Gipo
(Table 9 and Figure 3) exemplify the expanding job market. Whereas 78'1,
of the labor trips made by the sample of Gbannah domestic group heads
were to two rubber plantations, only 21% of the current migrants from
Gipo are now employed at these two sites while 59% are currently known
to be employed at non-concession jobs. Taken site by site Firestone is
still the most frequented labor concession; followed by LAMCO and
Cocopa. Twenty of the mature males reside in Monrovia but only eleven
are employed. The other nine were principally students and job seekers.
The labor histories of the Gipo domestic group heads indicate that
the Gbannah Mano did not have a long tradition of labor mi1•,ration to the
coast or involvement in wage labor as did groups like the Sabo, Bassa,
Kru and Grebo (see McEvoy Ms.; Fraenkel 1964). The places that
initially attracted the Mano labor migrant were the large foreign con
cessions. The Firestone plantation was the first major real alterna
tive known by the Mano to village life.
This situation began to change after World War II with the develop- i
ment of two concessions in Mano territory. In addition, investment of
outside capital in new concessions in both the Mano and non-Mano areas
has stimulated the development of an internal service and :mppor1ive
infrastructure in the Liberian economy. This new job market a.ccounts
for the present dispersion of the migrants from Gipo when compared to
that of their fathers. There has, thus, developed a dichotomy between
the old and the young as to which labor sites are most desirable. The
elders see the :iob market in terms of past conditions while the current
54
migrants must choose their labor areas based on present opportunities
and skills (see Table 10). of the concessions, the older men preferred
LAMCO because of its proximity and higher pay. However, because LAMCO
hires principally skilled laborers the Gipo migrants must go elsewhere.
TABLE 10. COMPARISON OF TOWN ELDERS' FIRST CHOICB IN A LABOR SITE WITH THE ACTUAL CHOICE
OF PRESENT GIPO MIGRANTS
FIRST CHOICE OF ELDERS NUMBER (%)
ACTUAL LOCATION OF MIGRANTS NUMBER (%)
LAMCO 11 (22) LAMCO 13 (10)
Cocopa 8 (16) Cocopa 12 ( 9)
Firestone 4 ( 8) Firestone 15 (12)
Government 3 ( 6) Army 9 ( 7)
Other 17 ( 34) Monrovia and other 47 ( 36)
No preference 7 (14) Travelling or 33 (25) not working
TOTALS 50 (100) 129 (99)
MOTIVATION
Mitchell has pointed out that there are many factors that may
govern why one man leaves his natal village to seek wage labor and
another stays (1970:31). This section analyzes the dominant themes and
general environment of motivation that have emerged from the actors'
perceptions of wage labor over time.
Conditions in Mano country at the time of initial migration to
Firestone were; 1) freedom of long distance travel that resulted from
55
pacification and the ending of tribal hostilities, 2) increasing money
demands caused by taxes and other obligations of the national state, and
3) limited access to goods and labor markets. Firestone began operations
just at a time when Mano horizons and needs were expanding.
Table 11 summarizes the stated motives of Gipo migrants for their
trip in search of wage employment and Table 12 summarizes the same
for all trips to labor centers. The Gbannah Mano have div:ided the
period from the establishment of national ·jurisdiction in tlie area to
the pr•esent into three broad categories.
TABLE 11. STATED MOTIVE FOR FIRST MIGRATION TO A LABOR CENTER FOR GIPO LABOR
HISTORY SAMPLE
1920-1932 1932-1940 1940-1960
n (%) n (%) n (%)
Ploto (Forced Labor) 3 (30) 12 (46) 2 (22)
Money and Consumer Goods 5 (50) 9 (35) 6 (57)
Other1 2 ( 20) 5 (19) 1 (11)
TOTALS 10 (100) 26 (100) 9 (100)
l Other category includes those who went with an older relative, joined the conquering army, and those who were in trouble in the village and wanted to get away until tempers cooled.
TABLE 12. STATED MOTIVE FOR ALL LABOR MIGRATIONS GIPO LABOR HISTORY SAMPLE
Floto ( Forced Labor)
Money and Consumer Goods
Other
TOTALS
1920-1932
n (%)
3 (25)
6 (50)
3 ( 25)
12 (100)
1932-1940 1940-1968
n (%) n (%)
23 (51) 24 (33)
16 ( 36) 41 (57)
6 (13) 7 (10)
45 (100) 72 (100)
The First Period. When the first migrants left Gipo to work at Fire
stone they were leaving a town that had been compleiely defeated,
psychologically and militarily, by the Liberian Army. The town was
rebuilding and every available man was needed. Therefore, when
travelers from the Gio tribe (the neighboring group to the east and
56
north) came through town on thei:r· way to the coast and told of the job
opportunities at Barbel, the young men were forbidden to go by the town
chief Gbiankwei. The men who left on that first trip did so in secret.
The first men did not leave to get goods or money principally, but
rather for the adventure.
During most of the first period of migration (1920-1932) the
migrants left Gipo much the way Mossi migrants left their villages in
the upper Volta to work in Ghana when studied by Skinner (1965). They
met in secret and made plans on what to take, how to go, what they
would eat, and when they would leave.
57
The first migrant returned to Gipo some four months after the first
group had gone. He recounts how the town gave a feast for him, how the
girls baked rice cakes and the other young men were "on fire 11 over his
pants and shirts. When the other men, especially the young ones, saw
how he was treated when he returned they all wanted to go and begged
him to lead them. From that time on, migration was an established
pattern in Gipo although it was resisted by the elders until forced
labor came in the period from 1932-1940.
Although the adventure of a trip to the coast was very real for
those who left, the desire for clothing dominates all conversations
about this period. Never before nor since has it been possible, said
an elder, for a man to show off his clothes to such an effect.
The Second Period. In recounting George Dunbar's administration (1932-
1940) another theme becomes dominant in most of the interviews and con
versations--what the Mano call ploto, i.e. , "forced labor. 11 Forced
labor has a narrower connotation than ploto. When a Gbannah man or
woman is called upon to help build a road, to cut the undergrowth along
the edge of a motorway or to repair the fence around the district head
quarters, that is, all those tasks that might be called civic latJor, it
is called ;eioto. Conceptually, then, this is the same as when he is sent
to work on a government official's farm without compensation, However,
the Dunbar years were severe as is amply testified by the physical scars
carried by the elders and in the lists of men beaten to death at the
whim of soldier or administrator. Although Dunbar may have indeed done
much for the people under him, this was the period present domestic
58
group heads considered to have been the most filled with hardship. Thus
the main stated motive for going to seek work during the 1q32-194-0
period, was associated with ploto. The category Ploto (forced labor) in
Tables 11 and 12 groups all those men who took a job away from Gipo
because: 1) they were forced to go, 2) they wanted to escape from a
forced labor project, 3) they went on a ploto to carry a load to, or
to pick a cargo up in, Kakata for an official and decided to stay once
they got there, and 4) those who had finished some forced labor project
and wanted to get away from the home area. If one was at the Firestone
plantation at Harbel he was safe from any call. The reasoning employed
by many was that as long as one was away from town working one should
make some money at it.
The Third Period. The time since Dunbar's administration has been, by
way of contrast, a distinct period to the Mano of Gbannah. The roads
to Monrovia have been completed connecting Gbannah with the mainstream
of Liberia's economy. It is also the period when the central government
has become directly concerned with the area and Monrovia has supplanted
Sanequellie as the center of decision making. Compulsory labor has de
creased substantially. In addition, many alternatives to Firestone
have been added to the horizons of the Gbannah migrants. Rather than
escape from the conditions prevalent in the rural area, as was the case
during the second period, the majority of the men are leaving now to
get money and goods to bring back to the village.
59
The Recruitment Practices of Firestone. In discussions of motivation i
of migrant labor in Liberia one mult consider the recruitment policies
. \ practiced until recently by Firestone (Clower et al 1966:309, 311;
Taylor 1956; Buell 1947; Hayman 1943).
Part of the arrangements between Firestone and the Liberian
government was concerned with the supply of labor. In 1926 a quota
system was established whereby each district had to provide a certain
number of workers. The Paramount ____ ~hiefs were then compensated for each / r . ...--
man from their area. In 1954 the quote for the Sanequellie District
(Mano and Northern Gio) was 3,050 (Clower et al 1966:311).
In the labor histories of the 50 randomly selected Gipo males who
had made over 130 wage earning labor trips (Tables 11 and 12) it was
discovered that only 5 of the trips were the result of forcible re
cruitment (ploto) by Firestone agents. Two of the five had made volun
tary wage labor trips before being so recruited and another two made
subsequent trips. The fifth man has never left the town to work again.
What emerges from the Gipo data is that the Mano were seeking wage
employment for reasons other than labor recruitment from the very
beginning.
AGE AND OCCUPATION
Intensive work was done among the migrants from Gipo working in
Monrovia, Cocopa and LAMCO in order to determine the age and types of
social situations faced by migrants in various occupations at these
employment centers which account for 36% of that town's mature male
migrants. Cocopa was selected rather than Firestone as the sample
60
rubber plantation because of its intimate relationship with all aspects
of Gbannah life.
Figures 4, 5 and 6 give the age pyramids for people from Gipo
living at these places. The median age for mature male migrants to
Monrovia is 22 years while that to LAMCO is 28 and to Cocopa is 35.
The number of Gipo migrants to Monrovia involved in each occupa
tional category is given in Table 13. Students account for 30% of the
sample. The student migrants tend to work part time while attending
school and five of them held part time employment during the interview
period. Education is important in the Monrovia job market and the three
migrants who hold professional positions have attended high school.
Among the uneducated migrants only those in the para-professional
categories of soldiering and maternity ward steward did well. The
soldiers receive food, housing, clothing and transportation in addition
to their cash wages. The average monthly salary of $73 a month for
fully employed migrants is high by national standards. Counteracting
these relatively high wages, however, is the cost of living in Monrovia
which is among the highest of any urban center in the world " ••• with a
cost of living index of 115 compared with the base of 100 for New York
City" (Qureshi et al, 1964:297).
Cocopa, located in the northeast corner of Gbannah, tends to
attract those older Gipo males who wish to remain close to home and do
not have the requisite skills for work at LAMCO. This is reflected in
the median age of 35 years for these migrants. None of the migrants to
Cocopa have any formal western education and all of them are in the
MALES
FIGURE 4. POPULATION PYRAMID FOR 51 GIPO MIGRANTS IN MONROVIA
BY SEX AND AGE
tr)
-::t I
'° C"'l
tr) C"'l
I
FEMALES '° (n = 31) N (n = 20)
tr) N
I
C"'l r-1
N r-1
I
0
'' .
13 11 4 3 1 3 7 9
61
MALES
FIGURE 5. POPULATION PYRAMID FOR 31 GIPO MIGRANTS AT COCOPA
BY SEX AND AGE
--+ <D .::t
LO .::t
I FEMALES (n "" 18) lO (n "" 13)
(t)
LO (t)
I
{D
N
LO N
I
(t)
rl
N rl
I
0
• 5 2 1 4
62
( MALES
FIGURE 6. POPUI.ATION PYRAMID FOR 39 GIPO MIGRANTS AT LAMCO
BY SEX AND AGE
-~ + tO .:j-
I..{) .:j-
I FEMALES
= 21 ) tO
( 18 n (Y) n =
I..{) (Y)
I
tO N
I..{)
N
I
(Y)
rl
N rl
I
0
I
8 6 4 3 1 3 4 10
63
)
OCCUPATION
1. Student
2. Soldier
3. Store Clerk
4. Odd Jobs
5. Bank Teller
6. Bank Typist
7. Office Clerk
TABLE 13. OCCUPATIONS OF MATURE MALE MIGRANTS FROM GIPO TO MONROVIA
NUMBER OF MIGRANTS AVERAGE MONTHLY
6 part time work
3 $45-$30-::,25
2 $3G-$45
l Undetermined
l $85
l $175
l $150
8. Steward at a Maternity Ward l $75
9. Watchman 1 $20
10. Laborer 2 $25-$20
11. Houseboy l $25
TOTAL 20
64
WAGE
Includes many fringe benefits: housing, food, clothing, transportation
TABLE 14. OCCUPATIONS OF MATURE MALE MIGRANTS FROM GIPO TO COCOPA
OCCUPATION NUMBER OF MIGRANTS AVERAGE MONTHLY
1. Tapper 7 $15
2. Weeding 4 $15
3. Maintenance 1 $15
TOTAL 12
SUPPLEMENTARY ACTIVITY TO EMPLOYMENT AT COCOPA
1. Number of migrants making a farm at Cocopa 3
65
WAGE
unskilled category with few opportunities for advancement. The mean
wage of $15 a month is the lowest of the three sample sites (Table 14).
All of Gipo migrants at LAMCO except two are in skilled labor
positions. The necessary training accounts for the median age of 28.
The mean salary at LAMCO for Gipo migrants is about $62 and, while twice
that of Cocopa, it is less than half the mean for Monrovia migrants.
However, the cost of living is not high at LAMCO and the real incomes
are probably equal, on the average (Table 15).
Wages at the concessions may be adequate but they are not high.
The Ardeners and Wormingham (1960) have pointed out for labor migrants
in the Cameroons and Cole (1964) for migrants in Liberia that the
ability to save money for capital accumulating projects in the home
village is almost impossible because expenses at the labor center often
match or exceed cash wages. For this reason Gipo migrants to the con
cessions form money companies (pele gbua). The organization of pele
TABLE 15. OCCUPATIONS OF MATURE MALE MIGRANTS FROM GIPO TO LAMCO
OCCUPATION NUMBER OF MIGRANTS AVERAGE
l. Railroad Maintenance 3 $90.00
2. Community Services 3 70.00
3. Saw Mill Worker 2 IW.00
4. Laborers 2 40.00
5. Survey Party l 1~5. 00
6. Core Driller l 45.00
7. Company Store Clerk l 55.00
8. Pharmacy Assistant l 90.00
TOTAL 14
SUPPLEMENTARY ACTIVITY TO EMPLOYMENT AT LAMCO
1. A Small Shop l
2. Making a farm at LAMCO 2
3. Making a small house garden 3
TOTAL 6
66
MONTHLY WAGE
67
found at the labor center is the same as that found in the Gbannah
village, where each member contributes a fixed amount each month and
the members take the entire total in turn. The money companies are made
(usually) only with men from the same town, or, at the furthest exten
sion, with men from other Gbannah towns. Most of the money companies
investigated paid $20 to $40 to each participant in turn. An exception
to the general rule was a $200 club formed principally by Gbannah males
working at LAMCO but also including Mano from other areas.
LIVING FACILITIES
Caldwell has pointed out for Ghanaian urban migrants that the
biggest change is adaptation to a total money society (Caldwell 1969:
174). In the urban center housJng, food and other amenities are avail
able only on a market determined basis rather than by village recipro
city. In Gbannah a man builds his house on sib-held land but in Mon-
rovia each house plot privately owned and even the flimsiest structure
must be rented at a value commensurate with the increasing demand for
housing and rising price of land.
Housing for Gbannah migrants ranges from a basement cubicle
without windows, ventilation, water, or toilet facilities, which rented
in 1968 for approximately $10 a month, to individual dwellings of up to
4 rooms, the latter renting for $50 or more per month.
Since the Gbannah migrants are relatively late arrivals to Monro
via, the formation of ethnic enr:ldve:i (nee r:rar:nkel l'Jf,l1:Chdpl<1r JIT)
never occurred. Rather, they were forced to live where housing was
available and Map 6 shows the dispersion of the 41 Gbannah migrant
68
residential units throughout Monrovia. This diffusion decreases the
social benefits that would normally accrue if one were surrounded by
kinsmen in the same neighborhood (see Fraenkel 1964; Banton 1957; Marris
1961). Without the possibility of maintaining an attenuated form of
village reciprocity in an ethnic enclave, the Mano migrant is forced
more rapidly into the urban social network.
Both Banton (1967) and Little (1957) have suggested that voluntary
associations help facilitate the integration and adaptation of rural
urban migrants into the social network of the African city. This is no
less true for Monrovia. Gbannah migrants have formed the Gbannah
Social Organization, a self-help society that fills some of the roles of
the ethnic neighborhood. Its major function is to help in case of
trouble and to assist members in finding work. From the dues of the
members it maintains a small cash reserve which will be loaned out
the club agrees. One also finds Gbannah males residing in Monrovia
joining church clubs like Youth for Christ, the YMCA, and fraternal
orders such as the Masons and United Brothers of Friendship. 2
In contrast to the situation in the city, the foreign concessions
do not require complete involvement in the money economy. Housing,
medical care, schooling and recreational facilities are provided. In
addition, most of the concessions provide food to workers at subsidized
prices. These benefits and supplements increase real income by 30% to
50% of cash wages (Clower et al, 1'16G:309; Qureshi et al, 1%4:2'!7).
? Only those migrant~; who l1c1ve completed high school and are in college or hold a professional position join these organizations. Such membership indicates an acceptance of the urban values of Liberia.
UNITS OF RESIDENTIA~ MONROVIA MAP 5. MIGRANTS T GBANNAH
-fflRJ.t .... o~_----- -- .,:._ ---
llton 1tO VJfL --~--
e
LEGEND
RESIDENTIAL UNITS OF GBANNAH MIGRANTS
69
Residential units Polygynous Monogamous Anomalous units not
41 5
14
involving marriage 22
MALES (N=89)
44
FIGURE 7. AGE PYRAMID FOR GBANNAH MIGRANTS IN MONROVIA
20
POPULATION PYRAMID FOR 133 GBANNAH MIGRANTS
TO MONROVIA BY SEX AND AGE
U")
.:t I
<.D C')
U") C')
I <.D N
U")
N I
C')
.--f
N .--f
I 0
I I • 14 11 1
FEMALES (N=44)
I I
6 15 22
71
Furthermore, concession habitation compounds help enhance the for-
mation of ethnic residential groups as migrants are able to live and
work in the same labor camp as others from their home area. On 73% of
the trips made by the selected 50 Gipo males they had lived and worked
with others from Gipo.
Although LAMCO and Cocopa are continually upgrading their migrant
labor camps, only three Gipo migrants at LAMCO and Cocopa lived in the
most modern camps. The other Gipo migrants preferred to reside in the
older labor camps, which are structured more in the fashion of the
local village. At LAMCO this problem was investigated with the assis
tance of Latten ZetterstrBm, the company's staff sociologist. From her
interviews in the main camp at Yekepa and outlying camps it was found
that generally those workers living away from the main camp did so be
cause they felt freer to continue tribal practices and because they
said they were less restricted (personal communication).
In summary, Cocopa causes the least dislocation as it is closest
to home, utilizes unskilled labor and is amenable to older migrants.
LAMCO and Monrovia, on the other hand, offer the greatest opportunities
for the ambitious and educated individuals. At the concessions the
migrant is provided with housing and many of the social security bene
fits common to the fully industrialized nation. The Monrovia migrants,
without the security of either the village or the concession social
benefit programs, must adapt to the full impact of the money economy.
72
THE RELATIONSHIP OF MIGRANTS TO THE HOME VILLAGE
The migrants of Gbannah do not leave village reciprocity behind
them when they seek wage employment. During the migratory period they
remain members of their domestic group, lineage and sib, and do not
escape from their responsibilities to those who remain in the home
village. While the migrants are working elsewhere they are expected
to help those who remain at home. On payday at any one of the con
cessions a migrant can expect to have visitors seeking some kind of
aid. Those at Firestone and Monrovia are, of course, less subject to
visits than those at Cocopa and LAMCO.
It is interesting to note, however, that one of the reasons men
prefer Cocopa to Firestone is because one can be "someone big" on pay
day. Although Cocopa is only an hour's walk from Gipo, people will
leave the day before payday in anticipation. Booths are set up in each
camp. One or another of the camps will host a "tall devil" performance
and a soccer game. In the evening there will be parties and dances in
each of the labor camps. The fellowship of payday festi vi.ties allows
the migrant to contribute to in-town projects of his kinsmen and to
reemphasize his importance to the village economy. Indeed, if an elder
in Gipo is building a house or buying a sugar cane press he will make
the round of the major concessions on payday, where he has younger
kinsmen working, to collect contributions.
In addition to the money given to visitors from their home vil
lage, money is often "sent home" on a regular basis. Money was re
mitted on 100 of the 132 labor migratory trips by the random sample of
73
50 Gipo men, principally while working at Firestone. In 60 of the
cases the recipient was the father, 30 of the times the recipient was
a wife or wives, and the other 10 went to a combination of these or to
other kinsmen. The money sent home and the contributions to the pro
jects of older kinsmen accounts for the expenditure of the savings from
the money companies by those migrants interviewed at LAMCO and Cocopa.
In addition, no migrant returns to his home village empty-handed. There
is an implied obligation on the part of the returning migrants to bring
at least some small gift for those who stayed at home. This responsi
bility is sufficiently strong to prevent several unemployed migrants at
LAMCO from returning to Gipo.
All the above mechanisms insure membership in the village social
units and provide the migrant with at least some of the security he
needs in dealing with the capriciousness of the western market place.
As Gutkind (1968:149) points out, the African laborer does not have the
security and protection of the state to guard him against the inequities
of the industrial system. Given the limited range of opportunities for
unskilled labor in Liberia and the fluctuation in the world price struc
ture, the ability of the laborer to return home in cases of lay-off or
dismissal is highly adaptive both for labor and for economic (see Berg
1965) development.
CHAPTER V
VILLAGE ADJUSTMENTS
74
This chapter will discuss the adjustments the Gbannah Mano in the
villages have made: 1) to the loss of labor potential due to labor mi
gration and 2) the changes wrought upon rural agricultural production
by the incorporation of Gbannah into the money economy of Liberia.
THE CHANGES IN USING, HOLDING AND LAND ALLOCATING UNITS
Each resident male of a Gbannah town theoretically has a use right
to town land. As Bohannan has suggested, this "right in land" does not
imply a relationship between a man and a "parcel of land" but to a tem
porary farm described below (1963:106). The land holding, allocating
and using uni ts have been changing over time in response to changes in
the political and economic environment.
As was outlined in the historical section, the Mano expanded into
the forest on many fronts at the instigation and leadership of "big
men" (domia). These domia brought their sib and lineage mates with
them and founded individual sib towns which were exogamous. Farms were
made by lineages and the location was determined by the lineage head.
Since labor demands for clearing tropical forest are high, towns split
only when a new domi could gather enough followers to make fission
75
viable. The land using and land allocating units were the lineages and
the Mano expanded into the forest in a small stepwise fashion.
With the increased amount of warfare during the last half of the
eighteenth century the small lineage-based villages came together to
form the minimal sibs of the towns of Gbannah. A man wishing to estab
lish his lineage in a town would approach the elders of a minimal sib
which had the same food taboos as himself (maximal sib membership).
The elders of the minimal sib would call all the members together, and
if they agreed, the new man could build a residence in that sib's quar
ter of the village and make a farm on its land. This membership pro
cedure was pursued by the progenitors of all but the founding lineages
in the towns today. In visiting the farm sites of the pre-pacification
period it was found that they were allocated at the discretion of
lineage heads or "big men" and the farm plots utilized by gbein members
were located throughout town land.
Pacification by the French and Liberian forces brought both
political stability and an end to random population movement. New
towns have since been founded only with the permission of the govern
ment. In the generation of the present elders' fathers, land alloca
tion functions passed to the minimal sibs. Lineage heads still allo
cated land but did so in common with all other lineage heads in their
minimal sib. The town's territory was divided into sectors and the
lineages exploited only the area within their minimal sib's sector.
Since that· time the individual domestic groups have become the land
using units rather than the line,1;:,,er:, making their farms at will on
76
their patrisib's land. l
SOCIAL UNITS OF THE AGRICULTURAL ROUND
There are two main categories of social units responsible for
agricultural production: the domestic group (ka) and the labor coopera
tive (Gbua). The domestic units are most directly responsible for pro
duction and allocation of goods and services in the village agricultural
economy. They are not, however, fixed membership units, rather they
are collections of individuals organized for a set of activities over a
given amount of time. There is, however, a fairly stable corpus of
individuals based upon those who eat together regularly from pooled
resources. This unit is called the domest!9- group as it " . ••. is essen-
tially a householding and housekeeping unit organized to provide the
material and cultural resources needed to maintain and bring up its
members1' (Fortes 1958:8). The domestic group head is the one which
determines who can and who cannot share in the pooled resources of the
unit; the head may be either male or female but is most often a male. 3
The productive resource of manpower and equipment are pooled by
the domestic group. Access to these resources extends over the whole
lineage on the basis of balanced reciprocity. Within the domestic
groups of a lineage are definite domestic clusters within which genera
lized reciprocity exists. Within each domestic cluster almost all
3In previous years these units included the slaves and pawns. Today one still finds clientship in effect. Young men unable to meet bride price requirements on their own or those who have been forced to leave their natal villages for some transgression will attach themselves to a wealthy man by becoming a lover to one of his wives.
77
items can be borrowed freely except for two very important exceptions:
rice and the personal belongings of a wife. Both these items are under
the direct control of the women, and since they have married in from
another patrilineal group, they determine how much liberty can be taken
with these things under their control. Even the husband cannot assume
control over his wife's rice. The husband cannot sell, give or allo
cate the rice in any manner without the prior permission of the wife.
The writer tested this condition on several occasions by asking Gipo
men and women for rice on both a gift and sale basis. The husbands
almost always asked their wives and those in polygynous unions invaria
bly did so. The wives, on the other hand, seldom conferred with their
husbands before selling or giving rice.
Four instances were observed where the wife refused to give any
of the rice for her husband's meals. In each case the husband appealed
to the patrilineage of the wife's father to approach the wife herself
to reconcile the difference. All but one of the cases terminated in a
divorce. Upon divorce the entire rice harvest came under the control
of the husband. This, the elders said, was so that the lover of the
divorced wife would not eat food meant for the divorced man and his
children. In more structural terms, the rice harvest belongs in whole
to the domestic group. It is the wife's duty vis-a-vis the patri-unit
she has married into to see that all members are fed.
The labor cooperatives, on the other hand, are traditional volun
tary associations among the Central Mano that do almost all of the
78
organized by a senior man or woman of a minimal sib. All mature adults
are expected to join and the cooperatives range in size from five to
thirty members. Table 16 gives the actual percentage membership of
domestic group heads in the four sample towns. The labor cooperatives
for Gipo, the number of members in each and the number of times a
member can rely on the help of the cooperatives during the year are
given in Table 17.
The domestic group head is responsible for maximizing the manage
ment of land, labor and the timing of the farming activities. In
January he must select the section of sib land that will be cleared for
that year's farm. This he does every year as the Gbannah Mano make a
new inter-cropped upland rice farm each year. The factors taken into
account are the "feel of the soil," the kinds of undergrowth present
and other edaphic features.
In order to maximize tha labor available the Gbannah farmer must
plan his activity so that it will not conflict in timing with others.
The labor cooperatives meet in March and decide the order in which they
will work on farms. The most important men declare the approximate
date of their turn. The other men will then attempt to arrange that no
one else in his domestic cluster, lineage, or sib makes a farm on the
same day as himself. This management of resource timing is most impor
tant. For example, one case was observed in which a man attempted to
make a farm the same day as an important elder from the same sib. The
result was that only the minimal amount of help was available and most
of the tools in the sib had been preempted by the elder •
•
Men
Women
TABLE 16. MEMBERSHIP OF DOMESTIC GROUP HEADS IN LABOR COOPERATIVES
VILLAGE MEMBERS NON-MEMBERS
n (%) n (%)
Gipo 1 30 (60) 20 (40)
Dea 10 (43) 13 (57)
Gbeibini 35 (61) 22 i.j.
(E~)
Sehwi 25 (57) 19 (53)
1 . Gipo Labor Sample
TABLE 17. GIP2 LABOR COOPERATIVES FOR MEN AND WOMEN2
NUMBER OF COOPERATIVES
11
14
MEAN NUMBER OF MEMBERS
12.5
19.3
MEAN NUMBER TURNS PER MEMBER PER YEAR
2.7
2.0
1Membership is not exclusive. Men's labor cooperatives perform any duty requested by the man whose turn it is.
2women 1 s labor cooperatives are task specific.
79
80
Another aspect of timing is conditioned by climate. In order to
have a successful farm the land must be cleared and burned before the
rainy season comes, but not so far before that the undergrowth has a
chance to reestablish itself. No less than five cases were noted in
Gipo in 1968 where the domestic group's chances for a successful farm
were eliminated when the rains came before burning was completed.
The final aspect of planning is the feast that must accompany any
activity in which a labor cooperative is involved. This is most impor
tant and any domestic group known to provide anything.less than an over
abundance of food and alcoholic drink will have a difficult time getting
sufficient help. One woman in Gipo stated that her farm had been poorly
planted and was very small because her husband had not provided rum
since he was a Christian. Most of the labor cooperative left at mid
day to express their displeasure and to sanction the husband for not
sharing the results of common labor in common consumption at a feast.
LABOR UNITS AND THE CULTIVATION OF THE MAIN FOOD CROPS
The major activities of the Gbannah social units in terms of ag
ricultural production are: 1) land preparation, 2) crop preparation,
3) crop maintenance, 4) harvesting, 5) storage, and 6) preparation of
the foodstuffs for human consumption.
The land is prepared traditionally by the males of the domestic
group and the labor cooperatives to which they belong. Since each of
the males in the household will belong, ideally, to a separate coopera
tive, each domestic group will command considerable labor at peak
times. The group of men going to prepare a farm will start at
81
approximately five in the morning. The first task of the farming cycle
is to underbrush, that is, to clear away the undergrowth before the
large trees are felled. All growth that can be cut easily with a
machete is stacked in piles during this operation. After a space has
been underbrushed, the men divide into two groups of approximately equal
size. One continues to underbrush while the other group begins to cut
down the trees. The very largest trees are left standing as are all
palm trees. At around 10 A.M. the men are served dry rice (i.e.,
without sauce) and rum or palm wine. At this time the "owner of the
cooperative," the man whose turn it is to have the group work on his
farm, shows the men what their feast will be for the day. As the feast
is the climaxing social activity of the day's work, the men will not
continue unless they are all satisfied with every one of the arrange
ments. Once satisfied, the group goes back to work until approximately
2:30 in the afternoon when the main meal is served. After the meal,
which lasts an hour or more, the men return to their tasks until five
or six in the evening. The area they have cut in this one day deter
mines the size of the farm. Measuring two of the smallest 1968 farms,
the writer found that these were approximately one hectare each. From
this it can be inferred that each domestic group can expect to have, on
the average, more than two and one half acres of cleared forest for its
upland rice farms.
The males of the domestic cluster will continue to cut and stack
the refuse in the farm area for the next couple of weeks. The piles
are then burned. The domestic cluster males then restack all those
pieces that have not burned sufficiently and these are reburned. No
instances were observed where more than two burnings were undertaken.
82
With the coming of the rains in May the womens' cooperatives
organize for the planting activities. Once the date has been selected
by the domestic group head and agreed upon by the women's labor
cooperative the matter is in the hands of the women of the domestic
cluster. On planting day the women assemble at approximately six in
the morning. One of the older women begins to broadcast rice, cassava
shoots and corn. The labor cooperative then forms behind her and turns
the seeds under, burying the seeds in a bed of green manure. The
feasting ceremony is much the same as for the men discussed above with
one additional feature. In the evening, all the women who worked to
gether during the day will host a party at which the women can relax
with their friends and drink rum and dance.
During "rice minding time" (crop maintenance), which starts as
soon as the rice shoots come up, the old people and the children will
spend many days at the farm. The most critical time is just before
harvest when birds can ruin an entire crop in a day (Little 1951).
This is also the season when men will turn their attention to
preparing and tending the cash crop farms of coffee, cocoa, and sugar
cane. The women who did not put in swamp rice farms before planting
their upland rice farms do so at this time.
The corn matures in August and rice harvesting starts in October
and lasts through December. There will be women's labor cooperatives
to do harveut:ing hut many domr-f:tir! clusterr1 will rlq1ond nolnly on 1:IH'
83
manpower available within the unit. The women cut the rice stalks about
eight inches from the head and gather them into bundles which are tied
by the men. Other men will then collect the bundles and stack them on
a drying platform. The rice will not be stored until late December or
January after the old storage facilities have been re-roofed or new
ones constructed by men's cooperatives.
Cassava is not harvested until the following year. This means
that the domestic groups will have two farms in production; the cur.rent
upland rice farms which are made each year and the cassava farm that is
left over from the inter-cropping of the previous year. This is supp
lemented by the produce from the swamp rice farms of wives. In addi
tion to these major crops most domestic groups plant other foods in
kitchen gardens such as eddoes, ochra, bitter-balls and so forth.
DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS
It was stated in the last chapter that 42% of the adult males
from Gipo were involved in labor migration. Figures 7, 8, 9 and 10
give the age pyramids for the four sample Gbannah towns. 4 The picture
that emerges is a rural economy that has sufficient female labor force,
but also one that must adjust to maximizing the efforts of those males
that remain. Below, an analysis is made of the domestic group cycle in
4The population figures given on the pyramids are good only for the period during which the census was taken. In Gipo there is a total number of 1053 persons who hold genealogical space in the town. If the people are counted who are normally available duri.ng peak labor t :i.mes the population is around 870. The pyramid, for Cipo, however, lists the in-residence "effective population" of 781.
MALES (n = 360)
. '
183
FIGURE 8. POPULATION PYRAMID FOR GIPO BY SEX AND AGE
(Resident Population= 781)
tll :!
.-1 (:).
'° ...,.
Li"\ ...,. I
\.0 ("')
Li"\ C""I
I
\.0 N
Li"\ N
I
("') ,-1
N ,-1
I
0
I • t I I I
57 42 34 19 34 63
FEMALES (n ... 421)
I
130 179
102
MALES
FIGURE 9. POPULATION PYRAMID FOR GBEIBINI BY SEX AND AGE
(Resident Population= 481)
tO :l
...-4 p..
\0 ..j"
LI"\ ..j"
(n = 202) I
\0 <""I
LI"\ <""I
I
\0 N
LI"\ N
I
<""I ...-4
N ...-4
I
0
. . • 38 27 18 17 40
FEMALES (n = 279)
. 90 115
o:> (.11
50
MALES (n = 129)
FIGURE 10. POPULATION PYRAfITD FOR SEHWI BY SEX AND AGE
(Resident Population= 272)
co ::I
,-1 p.
"" ..;:t
I/'\ ..;:t
I
"" C"'l
I/'\ C"'l
I
"" N
I/'\ N
I C"'l ,-1
N ,-1
I
0
. . ' 25 ?3 17 14 4 21
FEMALES (n ·"' 14.3)
. . 33 36 49
MALES (n = 58)
33
FIGURE 11. POPULATION PYRAMID FOR DEA BY SEX AND AGE
(Resident Population= 108)
Ill ;:l ~ i:i..
'° ..;t
I.I"\ ..;t
I
'° ('I")
I.I"\ ('I"')
I
'° N
I.I"\ N
I ('I"') ~
N ~
I
0
- .! .!
13 7 5 1 5
FEMALES (n = 50)
. 16 28
a, -..J
88
order to ascertain at what point male labor is lost. Then, the data
are examined to see that adjustments have been made in the sexual role
relationships in the domestic unit in terms of the numerical dominance
of female labor.
LABOR MIGRATION AND THE DOMESTIC GROUP CYCLE
In this section analysis turns to the problem of how many times a
migrant leaves the village to work elsewhere and at what point in the
domestic group cycle he leaves. The mean number of trips by those men
in the Gipo labor history sample who said they would never leave the
village again was 2.8 (n=26). When, then, does a domestic group head
lose the help of his sons and when does he leave himself? The phases
of the Mano domestic group cycle that interest us here are those of
the attainment of jural adulthood by male offspring, the establishment
of new nuclear families within the domestic group and the process of
segmentation or fission and amalgamation of domestic groups in relation
to labor migration (Goody 1958:60, 61).
In Table 18 I have summarized the responses of the 50 men in the
Gipo labor history sample as to their marital status and membership in
Poro (Gebon) at the time of their first trip. Since the Gbannah Mano
do not join Poro before reaching maturity, it is considered by them as
the main criterion of full manhood. A man who has not become a mem
ber is not considered to be fully adult no matter how many years or
wives he has. There is only one such older man in Gipe, and he has
the status of a seventeen year old boy.
1920-1932
Poro Membership
No Yes
8 2
TABLE 18: PORO AND MARITAL STATUS ON FIRST TRIP BY PERIOD: GIPO LABOR SAMPLE
1932-1940 1940-1960
Poro Poro Married Membership Married Membership
No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes
8 2 13 13 22 4 0 9
Wl
Married
No Yes
7 2 ( 80%) (20%) (80%) (20%) (50%) (50%) (85%) (15%) (100%) (78%) (22%)
n=lO n=26 n=9
N=45. Does not include Mandingo trader.
What arises as most interesting out of Table 18 is the change
that has taken place over the years. Of the ten men who made their
first trip before 1932 only two of them were members of Poro at the
time. 5 From 1932-1940 one-half were already members at departure and
after 1940 every one in the sample was a member before making his first
trip. The reason for this pattern is related to the whole history of
Mano involvement in the money economy. As was mentioned above, the
chief and elders were, in the beginning, against men leaving to go to
Firestone. OnJ.y those who were not members of Poro could leave without
fear of the sanctions Poro could invoke for disregarding the wishes of
the elders.
The fact that 80% made their first trip to a labor center before
marriage indicates the Mano statement, that working outside of town is
5As an aside it is interesting to note that the first four men migrating to Firestone are now among the most influential men in Gbannah Poro. In Gipo, Poro is one of the prime agencies of change, having organized the town to dig wells, build a school, and undertake other projects.
90
a maturing experience, is substantiated in large part by common behavior.
In terms of the domestic group cycle one observes that young men
leave on their first trip when one would expect their labor was most
relied upon traditionally. This, however, appears not to be the case.
The elders of Gipo say that formerly, as young men approached the age
of Poro initiation, about 18, they were not expected to help to any
grea't extent. It was to be a time of "play" before one really became
a man--a member of Poro (Gebon), and they only helped at peak labor
periods. This was conditioned, no doubt, by the fact that in tradi
tional times Poro initiation lasted up to three years or more (Harley
1941:8; 1950:27-33; Schwab 1947:281). Therefore, according to Gbannah
elders, the young men's labor was not missed when they went to Firestone,
and it has only been since planting cash crops that young people have
been relied upon to help on a continual basis with the farming.
Tables 19, 20 and 21 indicate the marital status and Poro member
ship of migrants for the second and subsequent trips. For the majority
the second and later trips are made after one has both rites of tran
sition behind him. These, then, are trips made by mature nuclear
family heads. It after the son has returned from the second or sub-
sequent trips that he is able to establish his own domestic group within
the domestic cluster of his father. When domestic heads leave, it is
more likely to be target oriented and for a shorter period (see Table
22).
It was observed in the previous chapter that most of those mi-
grants currently away are young. Their labor lost to the domestic
1920-1932
Poro
TABLE 19: PORO AND MARITAL STATUS FOR SECOND TRIP BY PERIOD: GIPO LABOR SAMPLE
1932-1940 1940-1960
Poro Poro Membership Married Membership Married Membership
No
0
Yes
2
No
l
Yes
l
No Yes
3 13
No Yes No Yes
7 9 0 20
91
Married
No Yes
8 12 (19%) (81%) (44%) (56%) (100%) (40%) (60%)
N=38
1928-1932
Poro
n=2 n=l6
TABLE 20: PORO AND MARITAL STATUS FOR THIRD TRIP BY PERIOD: GIPO LABOR SAMPLE
1932-1940
Poro
1940-1968
Poro
n=20
Membership Married Membership Married Membership Married
No
0
N=29
Yes
l
1920-1932
Poro
n=l
No
l
Yes
0
No
0
Yes
2
n=2
No
l
Yes
l
No
0
Yes
26
n=26
TABLE 21: PORO AND MARITAL STATUS FOR FOURTH, FIFTH AND SIXTH TRIPS BY PERIOD:
GIPO LABOR SAMPLE
1932-1940
Poro
1940-1960
Poro
No
4
Yes
22
Membership Married Membership Married Membership Married
No
0
N:.: .t'J
Yes
0
n=O
No
0
Yes
0
No
0
Yes
?
No
l
Yes
]
No
0
Yes
17
11 J '/
No
()
Yes
17
92
groups but their productive efforts are not, for they contribute money
to economic projects in the village. It would be anticipated that the
largest domestic groups would have the largest number of its members
away working. As is indicated in Table 23, this is not the case. The
large units, however, are the ones most likely to exploit both the
resources available in the village and those of wage labor.
Iri summary, migrants leave at a point in the domestic group cycle
when.,tradi tionally they were not expected to contribute greatly to the
labor needs of the town. The transition in the rite de passage of Poro
initiation was one from dependent child to adult. In a sense, the
first labor migration of an individual replaces Poro as the maturing
experience. In former times, Poro, with its long schooling, prepared
a man to meet the exigencies of forest life. Labor migration comes at
the same period in a man's life and introduces the migrant to the exi
gencies of the wage labor economy. Poro initiation has become
attenuated in the process. Those initiates who are in school or wor
king for wages can complete the initiation in two weeks.
A~er the migrant completes his first trip he marries and forms
with his father a lineal household. Their economic efforts are direc
ted towards the goals of the father. After the second or third trip
(target) the son builds his own house and forms his own domestic group.
In the final stage the father resides with the son. The father's goals
are now those of the son. Table 24 gives the frequency distribution
of each stage for Gipo.
TABLE 22. MEAN NUMBER OF MONTHS GONE BY TRIP NUMBER: GIPO LABOR SAMPLE
Mean Months Away
Number of Migrants
FIRST TRIP
21
45
SECOND TRIP
19
38
Mean Months of all trips: 19.5.
THIRD FOURTH FIFTH TRIP TRIP TRIP
13 23 40
29 15 3
TABLE 23. LABOR MIGRATION BY DOMESTIC GROUPS HAVING MATURE MALE MEMBERS OTHER THAN
DOMESTIC GROUP HEAD
CATEGORY
A. No Members Involved in Labor Migration
B. All Available Males Migrating Except Domestic Croup Head
c. Male Members Involved in l.,abor Migration
, and Village Production
t(A,B)=l.23 t(A,C)=l. 74 t(B,C)=2.46
NUMBER OF DOMESTIC GROUPS
19
8
23
MEAN MEMBERSHIP
10
8
14
93
SIXTH TRIP
12
l
MEDIAN MEMBERSHIP
9
7
11
TABLE 24. FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION OF GIPO DOMESTIC GROUPS IN FOUR PHASES OF SPONSORSHIP
PHASE NUMBER OF DOMESTIC GROUP SPONSORSl
I. Younger males are attaining jural adulthood
II. Younger males are incorporating their nuclear families into the domestic groups of their father or "father"
III. Father and son have formed separate domestic groups2
IV. Father has joined the domestic group of his son or "son"
37
14
14
5
l b . . 'bl d . Dou le counting is possi e as a omestic group sponsor may be associated with two or more phases simultaneously.
2 Only fathers are countE,d.
94
95
CHANGING AGRICULTURAL RESPONSIBILITY OF WOMCN
Traditionally a polygynous family lived in a single dwelling and
all the wives made a single joint farm. In the late 1940's this pattern
began to change in response to the problems created by heavy labor mi
gration.
While a married migrant is away working, his wife or wives often
remain in the village. In the labor histories of the Gipo sample it
was found that out of 73 completed labor trips where the migrants were
married, the wives made a rice farm in the home village on 48 of them.
Many of the wives who have accompanied their husbands to the conces
sions were observed to return to Gipo during planting and harvest time
to help out.
When the husband/father is away working at a labor center, the
responsibility for the organization functions of the domestic group
must'be assumed by the wife. It was observed in Gipo that these wives
were turning to the village labor cooperatives to provide those male
tasks of land clearing and storage facility construction. In most
cases the migrants have sent money home for the purpose of hiring the
cooperative. There were several observed cases, and even more reported
in interviews, where the wife during the husband's absence would be
come the lover of a labor cooperative chief who would see that the
necessary help was forthcoming. Lastly, several of the women in town
have formed their own land clearing cooperatives and do not rely on
malP .assistance in any aspect of the agricultural cycle.
When wives assumed the responsibility for the domestic group
96
farms while their husbands were away, other changes followed. Wives in
polygynous units began making separate rice farms. This latter inno
vation is patterned after the traditional swamp rice farms that were
separately developed by each wife. This pattern has become estab
lished in Gipo and in half the polygynous units the wives are no longer
making a single joint farm.
This production independence has in many cases led to domestic
independence for the wives in a polygynous unit (see Table 25). Tra
ditionally a polygynous family resided in a single dwelling. Since
wives have begun making their own rice farms they have been demanding
and getting their own house or separate rooms.
In exploring the changes in the wife's role relationship vis-a
vis the production of rice, the wives of Mon gbein (Mon minimal sib) in
Gipo were asked, as a group, if they thought the new way of farming and
residential independence of wives was better than the traditional sys
tem. The older head wives agreed among themselves that things were
better when the head wife controlled the rice of the joint farms and
when all the wives slept together in the same room(?) because then
there was more respect for the head wife. The younger wives, expec
tedly, supported the new system. The most independent of the group
stated that now women have learned how to take care of themselves and
wanted to have their own bed.
These organizational changes in production do not appear to have
adversely affected agricultural productivity. A study was made to see
if the nutritional requirements were being met and if the population of
97
the villages was physically fit and healthy. The data for these inves
tigations, involving 196 Gipo individuals, is presented in Appendix A.
In summarizing, nutritional status was judged to be adequate and the
population was found to be generally healthy. In addition, the physical
fitness of Gipo males compared favorably with workers at Liberian indus
trial sites and with Euro-American industrial labor.
TABLE 25. INDIVIDUAL FARMS AND RESIDENCES FOR WIVES BY DOMESTIC GROUP: GIPO LABOR SAMPLE
Wives making individual farms
Wives making joint farms
Q=.83
2 X =5.27
p>.02
INDEPENDENT RESIDENCES
11
7
ALL WIVES SHARE COMMON QUARTERS
1
7
VILLAGE ADJUSTMENT TO THE ENCROACHMENT
OF THE WESTERN ECONOMY
This section will analyze the impact of the coming of roads and
the Cocopa Plantation in 1948 and the subsequent development of cash
cropping as an alternative to labor migration.
The desire to utilize West African resources by the industrialized
nations and the push for economic development by independent African
states have resulted in an increasing utilization of tribal ldn<l:; for
98
capital development. In the Republic of Liberia 6.4 million acres, or
nearly 25% of the land has been taken from the tribal holders for devel
opment by foreign concessions (Clower, et al, 1966:137-138). This ,,. figure does not include those areas alienated by influential Liberians
for private rubber farms.
Cases of land expropriation for self-interested reasons no doubt
abound but such a characterization ignores the ties between the rural
African village and the western economy. The agents of the advanced
economies and the representatives of the host governments view the
benefits of economic development as outweighing any inconveniences to
the country's indigenous population. The company asking for the con
cession offers to give considerable investment in time, capital, and
managerial knowledge. The point that is often missed, however, is that
the company has entered into a co-investment with the indigenous people
who provide their own investment of labor, food staples for workers and
the very land upon which is located those enterprises that are to
develop their region.
As was pointed out in Chapter IV, both Cocopa and the road came
in 1948. In that year the first plantation manager arrived to begin
the task of getting farmers from three villages that had traditional
rights to the land to leave afteI' the 1948 rice harvest. The govern
mental agencies were asked to enforce the concession rights and sol-~
diers were sent. Next, a survey team arrived to establish the exact
boundaries.
99
The Three Villages. Yeibo was located in the middle of the plantation
concession with a population of 300 to 500. At the time of expropria
tion, more than 75% of its land was lost and its inhabitants are today
dispersed throughout the entire Mano area. Since Mano land use rights
are held by village elements of sibs common to all the Mano, these
people remained landless unless or until accepted by their sibs in
other villages.
Gbeibini (see Map 2) located on the edge of the plantation. At
the time of expropri~tion approximately 24% of its land was lost. There
have been two major adaptive changes made by the residents of Gbeibini
since land alienation; cash-cropping and a system of land-use rent from
the neighboring town.
The land-use rent system as practiced in Gbeibini is as follows:
an individual whose sib has lost land approaches the elders of one of
the sibs in the neighboring towns with which he has a consar1guinal or
affinal tie. The elders of that sib call together all the members and
the applicant provides them with a gallon or more of the locally made
rum. He states his case and the kinds of crops he wants to plant. If
the sib approves, which it invariably does, the man is asked to give a
certain portion of the produce to the sib as a whole, usually a bag of
rice ,for a rice farm or a "tin" (5 gallons) of rum for a sugar cane
farm. These "payments" are then used by the elders to meet the tax and
feasting obligations of the sib.
Gipo is located approximately three miles from the plantation.
At the time of expropriation two of the town's six sibs lost all their
100
land, which represented about 35% of the town's territory.6
As in
Gbeibini, the dispossessed members of Gipo have sought land elsewhere.
In Gipo the applicant goes to a sib in town, not to any neighboring
town. The process is the same--the application is generously fortified
with rum and there is an agreement to give the host sib part of the
produce.
Summarizing from the above examples, it appears that where land
tenure is based upon kinship ties there must be sufficient land left to
each village if it, or its constituent social units, is to remain
viable (see Allan 1967). Yeibo could neither expand by borrowing nor
could it survive on what little of its traditional farming area re
mained.
The interface between concession management and the village has
always been abrupt and non-cooperative. A means of communication has
never been established and even today the local inhabitants do not
know why the plantation is there. The elders claim that they thought
the Americans were coming to make a one-year farm for the United States
president just as the Mano often did for the Liberian president.
In addition, between the two sides of the co-investment system,
the plantation and the traditional villages, there is nearly a complete
lack of communication. The host government and the management see the
benefits as a 11 long term" sequence while the villagers are reacting to
the "short term" effects of land loss.
A simplified and personalized view of cause and effect is the
6 It has also lost smaller portions of its farmland to two private Liberian rubber planters.
101
result. From the point of view of management the cause of poor village
company relations is an intractable, non-cooperating population. To
the inhabitants of the towns in question, it is the company's attitude
towards the problems of tribal life that makes a modus vivendi impos
sible.
CASH-CROPPING
The adaptation to the new situation introduced by the presence of
the plantation, the loss of land and the coming of the motor road
necessitated the addition of new elements into the traditional agricul
tural organization. Cash-cropping was borrowed from the concession and
all the villages of Gbannah have taken to cash-cropping to some degree.
Table 26 summarizes the data on the frequency of cash cropping in the
four sample Gbannah villages.
Once cash-cropping was undertaken, the knowledge of tree manage
ment gained at the plantation was readily applicable. In Gbannah the
concept of a coffee or cocoa farm is different from that of a kola
grove. Kola groves develop haphazardly around rice farm kitchen sites.
Coffee and cocoa farms, however, are planted on land specifically
cleared for the purpose. While kola groves seldom, if ever, number 100
trees, a coffee farm of over 1,000 trees is not uncommon. Furthermore,
both the access to and initial experience with coffee and cocoa plan
ting were gained at Cocopa, which began as a cocoa plantation, added
coffee, and has now switched to rubber. This change has been paralleled
in Gipo where, out of a random sample of 50, 43 families had coffee, 29
had cocoa, and 10 had planted rubber trees (see Figure 11 and Table 27).
102
TABLE 26. PERCENTAGE OF DOMESTIC GROUPS CASH-CROPPING IN FOUR SAMPLE
GBANNAH TOWNS
DOMESTIC GROUPS TOWN DOMESTIC GROUPS CASH-CROPPING PERCENTAGE
Gipo 491
43 88
Dea 23 16 69
Gbeibini 57 49 85
Sehwi 44 36 84
1Gipo Labor Sample. Mandingo trader is not included.
FIGURE 12. BAR GRAPH OF DOMESTIC GROUPS GROWING EACH CASH CROPl
43- ----
34-
29-
10-
COFFEE COCOA SUGAR RUBBER CANE CANE PROCESSORS
1 Source: Gipo Labor Sample
103
l04
TABLE 27. CASH CROPS BY DOM!STIC GROUP GIPO LABOR SAMPLE
NUMBER MEAN CASH DOMESTIC DOMESTIC GROUP CROPS GROUPS SIZE
No cash crops 6 4. 7
Coffee 3 6.0
Coffee and Cocoa 4 7.7
Coffee, Cocoa and Rubber 2 8.5
Coffee and Sugar Cane 9 7.8
Coffee, Cocoa and Sugar Cane 10 6.2
Coffee, Cocoa, Sugar Cane and Rubber 5 8.6
Coffee, Cocoa, Sugar Cane and Cane Mill and Still 5 12.6
Coffee, Cocoa, Sugar Cane, Mill and Still and Rubber 3 30.l
Managing Cane Pro-cessing Equipment, Coffee and Sugar Cane 2 5.5
49
1Mandingo trader not included.
105
The villages and the plantation are tied together at many points.
Figure 12 gives the number of workers hired from the 13 villages of
Gbannah including Gipo and Gbeibini. The chart shows that labor drops
off from February to May when the new rice farms are cut. What is
unexpected is that the largest decrease is during the traditional slack
times from June through September. Figure 13 is for another adminis
trative district of the same size located in a more isolated area,
roughly 20 miles to the east. By way of contrast it should be noted
that the laborers from area 2 come into the plantation during the slack
months. What is the significance of this difference? The villages of
Figure 12 are engaged in cash-cropping while those of Figure 13 are not.
The villagers around the plantation are using these slack months to take
care of their coffee and cocoa farms and to collect and dry the harvest.
In addition, it is the time to distill the fermenting cane juice and to
prepare the new sugar cane farms. The price drop in local rum from $8
to $5 a "tin" between May and October indicated the increased supply.
This activity with the very cash-crops (coffee and cocoa) that
were introduced into the area by the concession indicates that involve
ment in the money economy as independent producers is more rewarding
for many men than seeking wage labor. The local inhabitants not only
work for wages at the plantation, they will also leave that employment
to compete in the same world commodity market.
Much of the money for the initial involvement in cash-cropping of
cocoa and later coffee came from labor migration. The seeds had to be
obtained and the 1ahor coop,1r•.1ti v1;r.; that c]e,u-•<'rl the necessary ]nnrl
120 -
115 -
110 -
105 -
100
95 -
90 -
85 -
80 -
75 -
70 -
65 -
60 -
55 -
50 -
JAN
FIGURE 13. NUMBER OF LABORERS EMPLOYED FROM THE 13 VILLAGES IN THE SAME ADMINISTRATIVE DISTRICT
AS PLANTATION BY MONTH
FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV
Source: Plantation Labor Files: 1967
106
100 -95 -90 -85 -80 -75
70 -
G5 -GO -55 -50 -
JAN
FIGURE 14. NUMBER OF LABORERS EMPLOYED BY PLANTATION FROM RELATIVELY ISOLATED ADMINISTRATIVE DISTRICT
OF 15 VILLAGES BY MONTH
FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV
Source: Plantation Labor Files: 1967
107
108
fed. Drying floors of poured concrete had to be constructed and trucks
or money buses often hired to get one's produce to a buyer. The early
profits made from coffee have financed the change to sugar cane, the
cash crop requiring the greatest initial capital outlay. Cane shoots
must be purchased and the processing equipment is expensive, by Gbannah
standards. A cane mill costs approximately $400, and a distillery,
'.';2',0-'.)3 1;0. One man in Gipo bas ordered a motor driven mill at dn
initial payment of '.)1400. Gipo with its 10 mills, q distilleril~s, and
one motor mill has a capital investment of $7,550 in sugar cane pro
cessing equipment alone.
Because of the relatively large capital outlay for equipment, the
domestic groups that process sugar cane into rum are the most involved
in cash-cropping and commodity marketing. As is indicated in Table 27
these units also have the full complement of other cash crops as well.
The domestic group head who owns his own cane mill and still gains in
two ways. First, he is able to process the cane from his own farms.
i;econd, he processes the cane from the farms of those who do not havr,
the necessary equipment. The equipment owners took ten gallons of
rum for every 25 they processed for others. The availability of a
labor force to manage and operate the equipment is very important if
the group is going to make any return on its investment. The mean size
of the domestic group in Gipo which process the cane is more than twice
that of the rest of the town (Table 28). It is these men who need the
male labor at home and object if more than one younger member of their
domestic group migrates to a labor center c1t a t:i.me. Tn wme:rril, then,
the more involved a domestic group is in cash-cropt):i ng tlw L1rger its
size.
It was observed in the data presented in the last chapter that
labor migration does not provide the worker with any great chance at
wealth. This, it was pointed out, is because cost of living equals or
exceeds monetary wages and because of the nature of the expected con
tributions made by migrants to those back home. The road to wealth,
therefore, lies elsewhere for the Gbannah malen. One of ·the bm,t tn
d icators of wedlth in GLannah townn today is membershi.p in the higher
echelons of Poro. The highest level in Gbannah Is Gebuo (large Poro).
Not all men of wealth will join, but all members are, by local stan
dards, well off because the heavy financial dues and initiation fees
eliminate all but the economically secure members of the society.
Table 29 gives a breakdovtn of the major source of wealth the members
of Gebuo in Gipo used in paying the initiation fees. The source of
income is then with members who exploit the wage labor sector of the
national economy through younger kinsmen who are away in addition to
cash-cropping. This provides a contrast with those who exploit only
one sector, either cash cropping or wage labor. As is seen, 21, or
over 80%, gained wealth principally from the management of domestic
group economies rather than through labor migration. This indicates
that for the men of Gbannah towns, those who have been most successful
as cash-croppers have utilized labor migration of the younger males
to the advantage of village production. They are on the whole able
to provide for larger numbers of people, with a mean domestic group
TABLE 28. SUGAR CANE PROCESSORS OF GIPO BY DOMESTIC GROUP SIZE AND MEMBERSHIP
IN GEBUO
Domestic Groups Owning Sugar Cane Processing Equipment
Domestic Groups not Processing Sugar Cane
NUMBER or DOMESTIC Gl{OUPS
9
105
Total domestic groups sampled: 114
Ml;AN siz1:
18
7.1
110
MCMLlE}{SllIP IN GEBUO
6
19
Total membership in domestic groups (includes migrants): 913
TABLI..: 29. Gf~BUO ML'MBERSHIP IN GIPO BY SOURCE OF MEMBERSHIP FEES AND
ECONOMIC SECTORS EXPLOITED
SECTORS EXPLOITED BY MEMBER'S DOMESTIC GROUP
Cash-cropping and Wage Labor of Younger Kinsmen
Only one Sector EJq>loited
N=26
Q=.78
MEMBERSHIP FEES FROM CASH-CROPPING
14
7
MEMBERSHIP FEES FROM WAGE LABOR
1
4
111
size of 11.3 as compared to 7.1 for the town as a whole, and further
more they can advance higher in the recognized status heirarchy. 7
THE LABOR MIGRANTS AS VECTORS OF CHANGE
The migrants are both direct and indirect vectors of change in
Gbannah. The goods and clothing of the modern sector were initially
introduced to the town in any abundance by the first migrants. As was
pointed out in the chapter on labor migration, this was a real stimulus
for involvement in the money economy. The migrants have also brought
back skills that are directly related to the current economic condi
tions and aspirations of the home villages, namely the knowledge of
cash crop management. The main impact, however, has been indirect.
Migrants were the first villagers to demonstrate the alternatives to
village life. They also were the first men to opt for the new hori~
zons available only in the modern sector and helped bring the revo
lution of rising expectations to Gbannah.
Migration and education together have also been altering the
authority structure. The leadership at the village level has not chan
ged in terms of its composition. It is still composed of older men who
hold high positions in Poro. What has changed is the means these men
use to gain wealth--the exploitation of the economy of the modern
sector. Politics above the town level have decreed that the town
chief the spokesman vis-a-vis the national government. This has
7Membership in Gebuo is based on wealth and not age. The range in age of membership is, in Gipo, from 30 years to approximately 70 years.
112
meant that the power of the town chief is increasing relative to that
of the sib elders. Whereas the sib and lineage heads have only the
weight of tradition and Poro to back up their authority, the town chief
is able to request the assistance of the Liberian Army to enforce his
decisions. It is small wonder, then, that the elders try to select a
relatively weak man to be town chief (see above page 17).
Although Poro is still very important as the ultimate enforcer of
traditional authority it is closely watched by the Liberian government
and all the spokesmen and holders of high rank are licensed. Tradi
tiona~ly the highest body of Poro was KiLaa, the policy making body of
the society. Shortly after the coming of the motor road all the mem
bers of this echelon were arrested and imprisoned. Upon agreeing to
disband they were released and KiLaa was replaced by the government
sponsored Gebuo, which serves the same function in the village but its
membership is carefully controlled. This effectively eliminates Poro
from any political or para-political role in the national political
sphere at the present time.
Any of the migrants who have been away at school can claim the
right to trial in the national courts rather than in tribal tribunals.
This right is readily exercised and each educated man knows in which
court he stands the best chance to win. Also, the educated migrant's
aspirations are tied to the political fortunes of Liberia rather than
to those of Gbannah. It was observed in the field that when these
migrants came home from Monrovia for a visit they were decidedly
apolitical in their behavior and acted in an advisory capacity. While
113
the illiterate farmer is subject to both the modern and the traditional
authority structures the educated Mano is able to ignore as much of the
traditional as he wishes.
Labor migration has also made it possible for the tm(:ducated
GLannah male to escape village authority. An elder is powe1°.less to
bring a young kinsman to heel if he is away at a labor center. Also,
the earning power of young migrants removes any hold the elders would
have in withholding economic rewards, such as bride wealth. As
Wallerstein (1965) suggests, the elders have to accept a much greater
degree of deviant behavior today they want to keep the young males
from leaving. This is especially important to those elders most ac
tively engaged in cash-cropping.
SUMMARY
The fragility of soils of the Gbannah region puts limitations on
both subsistence and the cash crops alike. Any attempt at increased
production through mechanical means, such as large scale clearing or
pJ.owing, increases the chances of erosion (Hellen 1968: 253) and changes
the fine ecological balance the Mano have established with their inter
cropped rice farms.
This chapter has shown the greater marginal efficiency of large
gro~ps in agriculture. Any attempts toward individualization of far
ming would, in this stage of economic involvement, lead to reduced
productivity and capital accumulation (see ~ardy Ms. for similar
situation in the Ellice Islands).
Finally, what emerges from the data that cash-cropping has not
114
been forced on the Mano of Gbannah. It was accepted willingly, rtnd
their cash crops and cash crop farms were patterned after Cocopa. The
ease of access to transportation and marketing facilities since the
coming of the road system has made cash-cropping a viable alternative
to wage labor migration. What is important, however, is that like
elsewhere in Africa, cash-cropping has been grafted on top of subsis
tence farming and the fundamental production units have not changed
(Allan 1967:359).
CHAPTER VI
CONCLUSIONS
115
The capital investments and the funnelling of population move
ments in Africa have led to the creation of large metropolitan and
industrial employment centers patterned, for the most part, after those
of the European nations. The phenomena of economic development and
labor migration, however, involve more than capital growth and manpower
development. There are two major changes involved for the indigenous
inhabitants caught up in economic development schemes. On the one hand
it involves a behavioral change on the part of the migrant when he
moves from the rural to the urban and/or industrial environment. He
leaves behind the systems of reciprocity that characterize his economic
relations at home and participates in the behavioral patterns of the
western market economy. An employer-employee relationship is estab
lished where the social contract is for a task and not for an affective,
personal relationship. The labor migrant is, therefore, entering into
a whole new system of allocation of goods and services that has been
derived from a cultural tradition that is quite alien to his own. The
wherewithal to meet the physical and emotional needs is available on a
market-determined basis rather than upon social and kinship distances
as was the case in his natal village. In addition, new kinds of
116
expectations must be developed if the rewards and sanctions of the new
order are to lead to adaptation, The migrant, then, is changing from
the sub-culture of peasant Africa to that of the modern national state.
On the other hand, economic development implies a vast reordering
of the rural sector and way of life to meet the contingencies imposed
by a national culture based on the money economy. The ultimate allo
cation of authority and power have shifted from the local to the
national level. The overall allocation of goods and services is now
tied to that of the national economy; land, labor and commodities are
what the industrial sector demands from the tribal areas. Throughout
West Africa this has led to land expropriation, out-migration in search
of work, and increasing involvement by tribal agriculturalists in cash
cropping in proportion to subsistence farming.
Like other rural areas in Africa the Gbannah Mano are committed
to labor migration and 42% of the young males are involved in wage
employment. The motivation of these migrants has not been constant and
has changed over time in response to changes in the political and
economic environment of Liberia. As has been indicated in other West
Africa studies, the earnings of Gbannah migrants are an important
source of income for the home villages.
Labor migration has become an organized body of activities which
articulates with the personal motivations of the migrants themselves
and their relatives who have remained in the traditional village. The
stay at the labor center is not a hiatus to one's membership in natal
kin and territorial units. There is an expected role behavior towards
those in need and the migrant contributes continually to the village
economy by sending savings home.
117
The other side of the adjustment has been the reorientation of
the traditional Gbannah subsistence economy. There have been ramifying
changes in all aspects of traditional agricultural organization. One
set of developments has been to compensate for the loss of male labor
and the other has been towards engagement in the world commodity market.
The road to wealth in Gbannah lies in the village and not at the labor
center. Those who are considered wealthy in Gbannah are not those who
have been extensively engaged in labor migration. Rather it is those
men who control the resources and labor of a lineage or domestic clus
ter. The resources controlled cross the boundary between the tradi
tional and modern sectors. The earnings of those who are away from
their kin groups are channelled into kin unit projects. Since the
introduction of cash crops these kin unit projects have been directed
toward increasing commodity production. The wealth of the elders has
come from cash-cropping and it was observed, in considering the data,
how men left the wage economy to get their cash crop farms into pro
duction. This in itself indicates where the Gbannah Mano see the
greatest potentiality. Furthermore, food production in the villages
has not suffered and the population has been able to maintain proper
standards of nutrition, health and physical fitness.
The place of the Mano in the general history of the western Sudan
shows that this is not the first time they have had to make choices in
order to adjust to a new situation. Their initial adaptation was to
118
the forest fringe. Adjustments then had to be made to the rise of the
Haute Guinee states and the evolution of a system for effectively
exploiting the forest environment. Next came the accommodation to the
western administration and economic control of their territory by
Liberia. Since then the development of the infrastructure and conces
sions in Mano areas has brought the money economy to the village. The
involvement in the national economy of Liberia has been accelerating.
Further involvement in the western economy by the villages of Gbannah
can only occur, however, on the terms of the westernized sector. In
addition, as more men emphasize cash crops and apply modern techniques,
the question of who controls the land will become increasingly impor
tant (Uchendu Ms.).
Locke has pointed out that ••. "Whatsoever, then, ••• [Man] ••• removes
out of the state that nature hath provided and left in it, he hath
mixed his labour with, and joined to it something that is his own, and
thereby makes it his property"(Second Treatise:27). Although the
direction of this treatise has been different from that of Locke, it is
nevertheless true that both the modern industrial and traditional sec
tors of the economy are organized for the exploitation of the available
resources found in the physical environment. The rice farmer of
Gbannah is no less dependent on those minerals found in the soil than
is the management at the nearby iron mines and rubber plantations.
119
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130
APPENDIX A
HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS IN GIPO
Both Richards (1939) and Prothero (1965) have documented the fact
that labor migration can have seriously detrimental effects on the health
of the home village. In order to examine if this has been the case in
Cbannah a study was carried out i.n Gipo (summarized in Haas et al FJ69).
A randomly generated sample of lb~l Gipo residents was given physical
examinations to determine nutritional status, parasite infestation and
general health. In addition, the physiological requirements of
traditional tasks were determined and the physical fitness of 16 Gipo
males was established. 8 These data were then compared with the physical
fitness and task work loads for a randomly selected sample of migrants
at a rubber plantation (Cocopa) and an iron mine (Bong Mines).
The Gipo data summarized in Table 30 show that villap,e agricul
tural production is meeting the nutritional requirements of the popula
tion. The poorest nutritional status was found i.n the very· younp,est age
category and one case of severe malnutrition was found in a two year old
8The health survey was done under the direction of Ganta Methodist
Mission Hospital. The work load and physical fitness study was done in cooperation with the Liberian Station of the Hamburg Tropeninstitut. A fuller description of the methodology and equipment used is given in Haas, et al (19G9:232-233.
l31
p;irl. This perhaps indicates that the greater utilization of female
labor har, resulted in children being neglected. Only fw~tht:~r studies
will be able to determine if this is the case.
TABLE 30. GENERAL NUTRITION OF THE GIPO SAMPLE
Age {years) Nutrition 0-5 6-12 Adults
Poor 3/40 (7.5%) 1/42 (2.5%) 0/87 (0.0%)
Fair 5/40 (12.5%) 2/42 (4.8%) 3/87 (3.4%)
Good 32/40 (80.0%) 38/42 (92.0%) 84/87 (%.6%)
Source: Haas, et al l'.Jfi9:233
Although the parasite load carried by the Gipo sample is high,
parasites are endemic to the local area and are not associated with
migration (Table 31). The ravages of malaria, parasites and infections
TABLE 31, INCIDENCE OF PARASITIC INFESTATION IN GIPO (n=l69)
Age (years) Parasite 0-5 6-12 Adults Total %
Ascaris lurribricoides 22 24 52 'JB 58.0
Hookworm 8 25 20 53 31.4
Strongyloides stercoralis 5 l 5 11 fi. ~~
Schistoma haematobium 3 11 9 24 14.2
Entemoeba histolytica 2 4 0 6 3.4
Source: Haas, et al 1969:234
132
that take such a heavy toll of the young were the same as those present
in premigration days. It has been estimated that the infant mortality
rate is in excess of 300 per 1000 live births for tropical Liberia and
from the Gipo sample it was found that 39 of the 44 mature women sampled
had been pregnant 242 times of which 200 were terminated in live births.
At the time of our study 110 of the children were living, indicating a
mortality rate of 45% for children of all ages (lldas, et al lCJf>:l:233).
l'rom the census data and genealogies it was observed that Lhe medn num
ber of children reaching maturity for women in menopause was 3 (Table
32). Child mortality still a problem, but it is not affected by
migration. In conclusion the general health of the adult population of
Gipo is good. Only children under the age of 5 were found to be suf
fering from malnutrition and in spite of significant parasite infestation
the population seemed biologically well adjusted to the physical environ·-
ment.
In Table 33 the data on the traditional and concesrdon work loan::;
have been tabuL1ted, As wlll be noted all male villilge ta;.;ks except
blacksmithing and tailoring have an energy metabolism (Kilocalories/
minute) greater than five. In contrast, the only industrial jobs that
exceed this level are the contract occupations of cement block tamping
at Cocopa and ditch digging at Bong Mines. These contract workers are
paid a piece rate and are not on a regular salary. All industrial work,
by way of comparison, in the Euro-American countries fall, on the average,
below five kilocalories/minute. The harder work in the village
associated with the greater physical fitness found in village males as
TABLE 32. NUMBER OF CHILDREN REACHING MATURITY FOR TWENTY GIPO WOMEN PAST MENOPAUSE
Number of Children Number Reaching of Maturity Women
0 3
1 2
2 5
3 2
4 3
5 2
6 0
7 3
8 0
Total 61 20
Mean number of children reaching maturity per woman: 3
133
TABLE 33. PHYSICAL FITNESS AS DETERMINED BY PULSE INDEX1
Sample Site
Gipo
Cocopa (Plantation Workers)
Cocopa (Rubber Factory Workers)
Bong Mines
Norm for Euro-American Industrial Labor
Sample Size
16
8
5
171
1 Id Pulse Rate Increase Pulse n ex = Minute
Mean Mean Pulse Index
2.78
3. 30
3.50
3.10
3.00
The lower the index
number the greater the physical fitness.
Source: Haas, et al 1969
13l~
135
compared with the mean for workers at the two concessions (Table 34; a
lower pulse index indicates a greater degree of physical fitness).
The impact, then, of labor migration on the physical health and
fitness of the home village of Gipo has not been adverse. Because
village work is physically more taxing than industrial work done by
migrants, the village males are in better physical shape than the average
industrial laborer. There is perhaps something to the statement of
Gbannah males to the effect that they are going away to work in order to
rest.
136
TABLE 34. PULSE FREQUENCIES AND ENERGY METABOLISMS OF TRADITIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL TASKS
RESEARCH AREA TASK n PULSE/MIN CAL/MIN
Gipo (men) Tailoring 1 97 2.17 Blacksmithing 1 107 4.09 Blower operating 1 110 4.43 Cane milling 4 119 5.14 Daubing walls l 120 5.40 Underbrushing 4 135 5.89 Sawing lumber 4 117 G .11 Chopping wood 2 11+0 f>.70 Hauling clay l 130 (i. q5
Gipo (women) Carrying wc1ter l[ 10'~ l.'/!) Weeding 2 1111 2.0<J Rice milling 2 117 2.79 Cassava beating 2 157 5.25
Cocopa Brick stacking 1 93 3.00 Sheeting latex 2 101 3.61 Tapping latex 3 99 3.71 Hanging latex 2 97 3.88 Collecting latex 2 106 4.44 Tamping bricks 1 150 7.25
Bong mine Euclid operating 3 79 2.30 Electric shovel operating 2 86 2.40 Drilling (level ground) 5 94 2.GO Dustbin cleaning 1 102 2.60 Diesel shovel operating 2 91 2.70 Drilling (incline) t1 104 3 .110 Metal filinf~ 8 108 3.tw Garbage collecting 1 114 4.30 Jackhammer operating 5 114 4.80 Orernill repairing 4 118 4.90 Ditch digging (shovel) 2 160 8.70 Ditch digging (pick) 2 170 10.00
Source: Haas, et al 1969:236
APPENDIX B
STANDARDIZED INTERVIEW SCHEDULES
I. Questionnaire for domestic group heads in Sehwi, Dea and
Gbeibini. The questions were derived from interviews with
Gipo Labor Sampie.
1. Name given at birth
2. Name given by Poro Society
3. Joking name
4. Name used when seeking wage labor or dealing with the Liberian
government.
5. Age
6. Place born
7. Present residence
8. Sib membership
9. Marital status
10. Number of wives presently residing with respondent
11. Number of wives deceased
12. Number of wives divorced
13. Years of schooling
137
I .
Membership in labor cooperative
Membership in Poro
Membership in Gebuo
Membership in United Brotherhood of Friendship
Membership in Snake Society
Membership in a savings club
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20. Membership in Gbannah Social Organization
21. Other voluntary association memberships
22. Religious affiliation
23. Wage labor experience:
a. Firestone
b. LAMCO
c. Cocopa
d. Independent rubber farm
e. Other
, 24. Local agricultural involvement:
No. of times employed
a. How many upland rice farms are planted this year?
138
b. Have you or your father ever made a farm on this exact piece
of land before?
c. How many swamp rice farms have your wives made?
d. Are you making a sugar cane farm?
e. Do you own a cane mill Yes No
f. If no: Whose cane mill did you use last time?
g. Are this year's upland rice farms large or small?
h. In comparison to the upland rice farms of last year, are they
Larger --~ Smaller The Same ?
i. If there has been a change~ why?
j. Have you planted or harvested:
(1). Kola (7). Bananas
(2). Cocoa (8). Maize
(3). Coffee (9). Guinea Corn
(4). Rubber (10). Beans
(5). Palm kernals and/or (11). Eggplant
palm oil
(6). Plantains
( 12). Pineapple
(13). Peanuts
k. Domesticated animals:
Animals Number For food or sale?
(1). Chickens
(2). Ducks
( 3). Hogs
( 4). Sheep
(5). Goats
( 6). Cow
1. List any other domesticated plants or animals that you are in
charge of.
140
II. Questionnaire for Gipo migrants to Cocopa, LAMCO, ancl Monrovia,
1. Name given at birth
2. Name given by Poro Society
3. Joking name
4. Name used on employment card, badge number if any
5. Age
6. Place born
7. Sib membership
8. What is the name of this section of camp/town?
9. Marital status
10. Number of wives presently residing at labor site.
11. Location of all other wives:
12. Number of wives deceased and divorced
13. Years of schooling and where
14. Present position with company
15. How long employed
16. Rate of pay
17. Savings association membership:
a, dues
b. how many members?
c. where do the members come from?
18. Previous wage labor experiences:
where employed when
19. Traditional association membership
a. Poro
b. Gebuo
c. Snake Society
20. Non-traditional association membership
a. Gbannah Social Organization
b. Religion
c. Religious club
d. United Brotherhood of Friendship
e. Union. If so, which?
21. flow long do you plan to remain in this employment/location?
22. What are your plans when you do leave?
23. Supplementary income
a. Are you making a farm? If yes, what kind and where.
141
b. Is your wife/wives able to earn any money here? If so, how?
c. From what other sources are you able to earn money: shop, etc.
142
III. Standardized portion of Gipo Labor History Sample interviews.
1. Do you ever plan to work outside of town for war,es again? If so,
why?
2. Is going away to work a good or a bad thing? Why?
3. Where in your opinion is the best place for a person to work?
Reason for this choice?
The following information is collected for each wage labor experience:
1. Wage experience number (first trip, etc.)
2. Where did you go to work?
3. How long did you stay?
4. Who was District Commissioner when you left Gipo?
5, Status in Poro Society at the time you left?
6. Marital status at the time you left?
7. Job (jobs) held at the labor center
8. What made you decide to go?
9. Did you go by yourself or in a group?
If group, give composition:
Name Alternate names
10, Why did you go with these people?
Sib
11. Why did you go instead of someone else in your lineage or sib?
12. While you were at the labor center where and with whom did you
live?
13. Membership:
a. Savings association d. Company sponsored club
b. Labor cooperative e. Other associations
c. Labor Union
14. Economic activity of wife, married.
a. Wife (wives) at home in village. Give activity:
b. Wife (wives) at labor center. Give activity:
15. At which farming season did you leave Gipo?
a.. Why?
16. At which farming season did you return to Gipo?
a. Why?
17. Remittances:
a. Did you send money home while you were working?
b. If yes, to whom, and how often and for what purpose?
18. What did you do with the balance of your earnings?
19. Personal estimate of earnings brought back to village
20. When you returned to Gipo for whom did you bring gifts?
21, To whom did your family turn for assistance in your absence?
143
Typed by: Barbara E. Lane